From Sand Into Glass
by Faelai
Summary: The area between light and dark is always shifting. How do we keep from making the mistakes of the past if we do not know our own past to begin with?
1. The Shifting Sands

Title: From Sand Into Glass

Author: Faelai

Pairing: Luke/Mara

Timeline: Post Vision of the Future

Rating: PG-13

Summary: The area between light and dark is always shifting. How do we keep from making the mistakes of the past if we do not know our own past to begin with?

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine, they belong to George Lucas and Timothy Zahn, respectively.

Author's Note: Since this is technically an Extended Universe fic, it incorporates the canon from all Episodes of the Star Wars saga, as well as several EU books but most notably the books by Timothy Zahn: The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology. All thanks must go to Zahn solely for the creation of the amazing character known as Mara Jade. She is by far, the best character in the Star Wars universe that has never appeared in a single one of the movies. (Come on Georgie boy, you couldn't have slipped in a tiny hint of Mara's existence into the prequels?)

Anyway, enough is enough, Here comes the fic.

-

Chapter One:

The Shifting Sands

-

The sun never set on the desert.

The golden glow of the first sun always seemed to linger on the horizon at twilight, splitting the sky apart with the violence of its color. The gleam of the first satellite would slowly fade in the horizon, its golden rays melting into the red sky.

With two suns in the sky, the shadows were always distorted. The typical interplay between light and dark were always shifting. The shadows shifted like the sand, they were mirror images that overlapped one another in this place.

This was the moment when the shadows became clearest. With only one sun, the lone Jedi who sat peacefully in the middle of the desert only saw one shadow. His own.

His shadow stretched out behind him, its dark shape looming larger than life behind his small frame. It was twilight, his favorite time of day on this planet, and most planets. But it was this sky that he knew best, even after so many years away from it.

He knew that the second sun would linger for another hour before the colors faded from brilliant hues of red and gold which would reflect on the heated sands all around him. The sun would join with the sand and the world would fade into the coldness of black night.

Luke had never been particularly fond of his home world. Growing up on Tatooine, he had always been searching for a way out of the life that he led. He had come far too close to death out on these sands many times in his life. After the last time, he had not even thought to come back for any reason.

But now, he found himself sitting once more in the desert of his home world and instead of the restlessness of his youth or the desperation of trying to escape danger, he felt peace.

He had come out here to meditate, the silence of the desert allowed the Force to speak to him with a clarity that surprised him. All of his life he had felt the Force like a tickling of his senses, a hum in the back of his mind. He had never known how to listen. Not for the first time, he wondered why Obi-Wan had not begun his training when he was young, while he had the chance.

Luke shook his head, seeking to quiet his mind of the questions that gnawed at him. Inhaling a deep breath, he dug his fingers into the warmth of the soft. Scooping up a handful, he allowed the grains to pour slowly from one hand to the next until they faded back into the endless sea around him. It was an old ritual he had with himself, the sand slipping through his fingers was soft and seemingly harmless, but he had seen its destructive effects. Sand had the power to erode mountains which melted down into its tiny grains, destroy entire cities, kill men. He respected the desert, he no longer had any fear of it. The desert had always made him feel small, as a young boy he had feared going out into the wastelands. He had feared getting lost in the sandstorms and never finding his way home.

A wry smile flitted over his lips like a shadow over the sun. The sandstorm had inevitably snared him in its whirling depths. His life as he had known it on this planet had been violently torn from him with the deaths of the only guardians he had ever known. He had been tossed into the whirling winds, death snapping its jaws at him with every passing moment and when he had come out on the other side, he had been a changed man.

He rubbed his hands, allow the sand to dissolve away into his skin. He took it all in, every grain of sand in this dry ocean was analogous to every life in the galaxy. They were countless, endless, constantly shifting, and could be scattered into dust with a simple touch.

He was still pouring the sand into his hand when he felt a familiar presence approaching. The ghostly smile on his lips grew as he felt the warmth of her energy washing over him as she drew closer. Her shadow merged with his as she sat down beside him, she did not speak, merely pulled her knees up before her and draped one arm across them as she looked out into the horizon.

Luke turned to look at her, drinking in the sight of her. The wild beauty of Mara Jade complimented the harsh beauty of his home world in an odd way. But then, he knew Mara could fit in anywhere.

"Not true," Mara spoke casually as she responded to the unspoken thought. Luke grinned, the newfound bond between their minds seemed to be growing with every passing moment they were together.

"I couldn't fit in anywhere," Mara shook her head and frowned. "Sometimes I don't think I fit in anywhere actually." Her green eyes found his, "Neither of us really fit anywhere in this universe, we have seen too much that others wish to close their eyes to."

Luke frowned, "That seems like a rather pessimistic view."

Mara shrugged, rolling her shoulders back as she turned her eyes to the sky above them. The darkness of the night was beginning to overtake the the remaining sun as it sank lower in the sky. "Its something I thought a lot about over the years," she said quietly. "After the Empire was gone... I never belonged anywhere, there was no place left for me in the galaxy."

Luke contemplated her silently, reaching out to take her hand and draw her close to him. The red gold sun behind her perfectly reflected the colors of her hair and in that moment he felt his love swell even more with love for her.

"You belong somewhere now." He whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers. "You belong with me."

Mara's eyes fell shut, eyelashes kissing the flesh of his cheek as they did. She squeezed his hand he felt her gratitude for his statement wash over him. "When did you become such a sweet talker, Skywalker?" She chuckled softly and he couldn't help but laugh.

"When did you become such a softie, Jade?" She could hear the light hearted teasing in his voice that she had come to know so well. She was sure that she was one of the few people in the galaxy who knew that the Jedi Master actually had a sense of humor.

"Soft!" Mara recoiled violently at the word, shoving Luke's embrace away from her. She jumped up from the sand, her peaceful moment forgotten. She stood before him like a sandstorm, her energy whirling around him. Her flame colored hair floating around her perfectly matched the red and gold sunset and standing before him with such vibrant beauty and life, she took his breath away, even as she pretended to be mad at him. Mara's mock fury was continually being interrupted by Luke's laughter. He knew her too well by now to know that she wasn't really mad at him.

"Hmph, you think this is funny farmboy?" Mara presented him her finely honed glare of death, one that had stopped him cold in his tracks in the past, but now it only incited another gale of laughter from the typically composed Jedi before her.

'_The crazy things that love has done to this man,' _Mara mused to herself. She couldn't fight off her own laughter for too much longer, his joy was just too infectious. Instead she pulled herself up in front of him and shook her head. "I'll show you soft!" She meant it to be a warning as she tackled him, knocking him flat onto his back on the sand, but Luke took it as a challenge.

His breath knocked out of him, he could only stare up at her for a moment, his amusement forgotten as he looked up at the woman he loved, straddling him casually.

Luke smirked, "Is that a promise?" There was a husky tone to his voice as he asked the question and Mara looked down at him with surprise. The glint in his eyes was unmistakable and she was reminded one more time of why she loved this man so much.

She was one of the few people in the galaxy who knew about his humor, but she was the only woman in the galaxy to truly know the depth of his passion, his emotion, his love. These were things that Jedi were told to shy away from, but Luke embraced them, knowing their inherent value to life.

Mara nodded slowly, bringing her lips to his. "Yeah, farmboy. That is a promise I'll make sure to keep," she whispered the words against his lips before she kissed him.

When they pulled away from each other once more, their playful mood had passed back into the quiet peace they had both come to find. Mara curled around her lover and rest her head on Luke's chest. He lay on his back, eyes turned to the sky as the glimmer of starlight began to emerge from the shadows above. His hand was running through her hair now, the strands were smoother than the sand, just as delicate, but much more beloved.

"What brought you out here tonight, Luke?" The question slipped quietly from Mara in the stillness as she listened to his heart beat. She felt the rhythm beneath her ear pulse stronger as she spoke his name and she smiled at the effect.

Luke did not respond for a long moment as he stared up at the sky. The moons were beginning to come out of the darkness above him as the last sun finally faded into the night. "The sand," he whispered.

Mara's brow furrowed, "What is so special about sand?"

"Everything," Luke informed as if it should be obvious. "Did you know that glass is made out of sand?"

Mara frowned at this, she hadn't known that. "How is that possible?"

Luke shrugged, "One of the many mysteries of the Force, I suppose... I remember when I was a very young boy, there was a man in town, a peddler of some sort, he made glass out of sand right in front of my eyes. He heated it on a fire until it was almost like melting, and then he blew through a long tube, he created a glass jug right before my eyes." Luke smiled at the memory, so long forgotten and suddenly recalled. "I thought that it was magic... I remember I asked him if he were a Jedi to be able to perform such magic."

Mara smiled at the picture Luke was painting for her, she could picture him as a small boy staring up in wonder at the glass. "I thought that Jedi didn't do magic tricks."

"They don't," Luke said, "But neither did he. It just seems like magic to the eyes of a child, something that seems impossible until you know how to do it yourself."

Mara was quiet for a long time, listening to the steady drum of his heart beneath her ear. She contemplated his words for a long time, there was a wisdom in Luke that she valued. It was this wisdom that allowed her to trust him to teach her about the Force. He may not have all the knowledge of the Jedi of old, but he had an understanding of the Force that Mara herself still lacked.

"The Force speaks to me very clearly here," Mara told him. Luke nodded, unsurprised. "Yes," he murmured. "I have felt it too."

"Why is that?" She inquired, "Is it because we're so far from the rest of the galaxy that the Force is quieter here?"

Luke contemplated her question seriously but in the end could not come up with a clear answer. "I don't quite know why it is... but it makes me wonder."

"About what?" Mara's curiosity was peaked, something in his voice, in his Force sense had shifted subtly. She propped herself up on her arm and looked down at his calm expression. The darkness of the sky mirrored in his eyes turned them the deep, dark blue of the midnight sky.

Luke was not sure how to respond, there was a stirring in his mind that he could not quite name and he was not quite sure how to describe it to her. He was certain she must feel it in his mind, with the strength of their bond, he would be surprised if she could not.

"I lived here, on this world, my father's home, from infancy until I was practically a man. And yet, in all that time, I had no knowledge of the Force. Yet it was with me the whole time, like... a whisper in the wind, or a soft hum in the back of my mind, but I never knew how to listen to it."

"You never had any idea that you had any abilities?" Mara was surprised by this. Even at a young age she had known of her own latent Force powers. It was why she was hidden from the Empire for so long. It was also, eventually, the reason the Emperor had chosen her.

Luke shifted restlessly and for a moment she saw him as the boy he must have been on this planet, an orphan separated from his twin, one parent dead and the other far worse off. She saw the loneliness that had followed him his entire life, up until the moment that her mind had joined with his, that was when both of their lonely lives had ended.

"Once," he murmured. His eyes were distant, staring into the sky but seeing something far beyond its horizon.

"Tell me," Mara whispered.

"I was very young..." the memory was coming back to Luke now, forgotten for so long. "I got lost in the desert," he waved his free hand out to gesture at the endless sea of sand that surrounded them. "The sandstorm swirled up around me, blinding me to all else. I was terrified." Luke closed his eyes, reliving the moment in his memory. "Then all of a sudden, my mind became clear. I raised my hand and the sandstorm stopped. The wind simply... ceased. Something whispered to me, took my hand and led me through the desert." A sad smile passed over his face. "I remember thinking at the time, that it must have been the spirit of my father who was protecting me." A stab of pain in his heart touched Mara's as well. She squeezed his hand, sharing in the depth of the emotion until it touched upon a core of clarity deep within her.

"The memories I have of my parents are blurry," she whispered. Through their shared connection, Luke could catch flickers of her memories as they passed through her mind. The exchange of the flow in the force between them was profound, back and forth they traded these memories. A tall woman with hair the same flame as Mara's, a man with piercing green eyes and a stern demeanor. Their memory radiated strongly in the Force for that moment in time, before slipping back into Mara's unconsciousness.

"You've never told me anything about your parents," Luke studied her carefully, seeing the distance in his eyes that had been in his own only moments earlier. Mara was studying the darkness in the sky beyond them. But her gaze went beyond the horizon, it circled back upon herself.

"For many years, I had no memory of them... I believe that the Emperor was responsible for that little mind trick. He took me from them when I was very young and all my life, I never questioned that I was different. I knew only what he taught me." A shiver chased itself across Mara's flesh, the cool stillness of the night was encroaching in upon them. Luke smoothed one hand over her flesh, attempting to warm her from the chill of her memories.

"When did you first begin to remember your life before Palpatine?" Luke was continually amazed by this woman, and how little he knew about her past life.

Mara's eyes narrowed in thought as she pondered his question. The visions were still fresh in her mind, though it had been years since they had first surfaced. She had accepted what they had told her but she never enjoyed remembering.

"The visions began after I met you..." Mara shook her head. "They began after I killed that clone of you. After I fulfilled Palpatine's last command and was set free of him..." Her eyes grew dark and she closed them against the world around them. A cold wind was stirring the desert sands, stinging her eyes with unexpected tears.

Luke leaned his forehead against hers, the clarity of their bond grew stronger until he was almost lost in her. No spoken words were needed.

'Show me,' was his simple request. Mara raised her hands to his head, palms cupping the sides of his face. She opened her mind to his and the visions came.

-

_Her father stood in the doorway of their small home, deep in the forests of a planet whose name she had long forgotten. Beyond the door, the wolves were howling and young Mara felt fear in her heart. _

"_No," her father spoke, sensing her feelings. "Fear is the path to the dark side, Mara. You must never forget that." He crossed the room to her, where she sat on the floor, the cubes she had been floating in the air had fallen to the floor at her feet. He sat beside her and suddenly no longer seemed so large, so imposing. He looked down at his daughter and she saw the love he had for her there. But she could also feel his fear, she could always feel it. Both of her parents feared something in the galaxy beyond them greatly, and she often wondered how often her father repeated that same mantra to himself. _

_Her father smoothed a hand over her red locks and studied her seriously. "There are many people in the world who will try to control you through fear. You must never allow anyone to control you, Mara. You are too important to the galaxy." _

_Mara gazed up at her father with eyes that were far too grave to belong to a child with such a young face. She had so many questions for her father, but she knew that he would not answer what she asked of him. Instead she spoke from her heart. _

"_I will try not to fear, Papa." Her voice was childish but her tone was serious. _

"_Do not try, Mara. Do, or do not. You must never convince yourself of drowning before you have even begun to swim." Her father hugged her close to him, the warmth of the contact calming Mara's fears. _

The green eyes of her father faded from both of their minds, ghostly images overlapping one another. The eyes of her father became her own in the mirror, the red of her hair turned into fire and she saw her mother standing in front of her, shielding her daughter with all of the power she had.

_The flames licked the sky beyond the both of them, all around them there was an overwhelming sense of death and destruction, it ripped through the Force, shaking Mara's bones within her skin. She struggled to find the center of calm in her fear, but it was lost in every sharp pang of death that struck her through the Force. _

_A dark shadow appeared against the flames and Mara watched as her mother pulled from her robes an object she had only seen a few rare times in her life, and had never been allowed to touch. The silver cylinder slid easily into her mother's hand as if it belonged there, it was an extension of herself. _

_Mara heard her mother's voice rise up amidst the roar of the fire, the screams of the dying. "Anakin, you must not do this." _

_The shadow grew into shape before her, Mara shrunk back in fear as the faceless man in black faced her mother. The power that emanated from him was so intense that it was painful, burning Mara with a heat deeper than that of the fire. _

"_Silence." There was no emotion in his voice, only a hollow breathing that emanated from his mask. "Every Skywalker in the galaxy is dead, including the one you call Anakin. I destroyed him even as he destroyed himself." _

_Mara saw her mother's grip on her weapon tighten, her entire body tensed as she began to realize that she was going to fight a losing battle. "This is the way you have brought balance to the Force?" It was a cry of sorrow that ripped from her throat. "This is madness, Anakin!" _

"_The only madness is that which awaits you after this life has passed," Vader intoned the words gravely as he slid his own weapon into his hand. Mara saw that it looked the same as her mother's, but it emanated a darker kind of death. _

_Mara's mother shook her head, red gold locks flickering in the flames. Mara engraved the image upon her mind, swearing never to forget that moment. Her mother stood tall, matching the height of Vader. Her hair danced like the fire and in that moment, Mara realized the depth of her mother's power. Power that was about to be destroyed by a faceless man. _

"_If you strike me down, Vader. I shall become more powerful than you could ever imagine. When all of the Jedi have become one with the Force, the Force itself will seek a balance. And it will be the end of you." _

"_Your hope is foolish, this is the end of you. This is the end of the corruption of the Jedi." With these words, Vader ignited his lightsaber. Its crimson sword sprung up against the red of the flames and Mara felt her mother brace herself. Vader swung upon her and Mara choked back a silent cry, as her mother's weapon ignited a blue sword that swung up to meet Vader's. _

_Mara was shaking, struggling to hold herself into her hiding place. She knew that there was nowhere she could hide from the power of this dark lord, but she could only hope that her father would return in time to save her mother from the evil that lay before them both. _

_The memories began to blur together. A clash of red and blue, swirling before her eyes. The shapes of Vader and her mother became shadows against the brightness of the fire that swept closer to them with every passing moment. Her mother moved faster than she could comprehend, blurring before Mara's eyes with her speed. Mara could feel how much strength she was drawing from the Force, the light filled her until she was luminous, glowing brightly against the darkness of Vader. As brightly as the Jedi shone, the Sith who opposed her seemed to suck the light away. The light was battling the dark and Mara's deepest fears had been realized. The light was losing, fading away into the darkness that the Emperor had brought upon the galaxy. _

_The darkness seemed to close in around her and Mara did the only thing she could do, what she had been trained to do. She opened herself up to the Force, letting the light of its energy fill her flesh. Thick in the midst of battle, Vader did not sense her near. Her mother was another case however. As Mara embraced the Force, her mother's mind was open to her, filling her with warmth as it had always done. Mara opened her mind to her mother, as she had learned how to do in the womb, establishing a bond that only a child can share with her mother. _

_Gathering up all of the strength she contained in her young body, Mara poured her energy into her mother. She willed her with all of her might, all of her ability in the Force, to live through this battle. _

_The world began to grow dark around Mara's young eyes. Her mother was growing weaker, the colors of the lightsabers were streaking wildly in Mara's vision. Everything began to blur together, the fire, the heat of the battle before her, the blood that filled the air when Vader finally sliced through her mother's defenses and struck her down before Mara's young eyes. _

_The shock of the loss of her mother's bond immobilized Mara. She stared at the limp form of her mother, her body seemed to become translucent and it faded from Mara's mind as she looked up into the dark faceless mask of the enemy. _

_Mara was caught upon the ripples within the Force. Her mother's death reverberated around her, she was caught in the whirlpool of the repercussions. Vader had not seen her yet, his head was down, eyes fixed upon the now empty ground. The Jedi who had brought Mara into the galaxy had vanished. All that remained of Mara's mother was the empty robes on the ground and her lightsaber. It had rolled a few feet toward Mara and when her young eyes fell upon it, she knew nothing else but a single minded purpose. _

_A burning rage grew within the heart of Mara Jade. She stretched out one hand and the lightsaber flew into her palm. It ignited instantly and power flowed through Mara, waking her from her grief stricken stupor. Stepping out of the shadows, Mara assumed a fighting stance and faced Darth Vader. _

"_Your reign of terror ends now, Anakin." Mara called him by the only name she knew for him. The name that her mother had spoken. _

_Vader's head lifted instantly at the sound of the lightsaber's familiar snap-hiss. Mara could see the green blade of the lightsaber reflected in the dark eyes of the helmet. He did not react to her words until the name Anakin was spoken. It was then that she saw his body instantly tense and he took a step toward her. _

_Mara did not back down, the fear that had gripped her had passed now. Her anger had died to burning embers within her heart, her mouth tasted of the ashes it had left behind. All that remained within her was the pure light of the Force. _

_The power built within her, speeding through her veins until she felt that she would burst. Mara allowed the Force to flow through her freely as she launched herself into the air. She executed a smooth flip over Vader's head and spun around, bringing the lightsaber to bear before her. She envisioned the green blade biting into the black suite, its shimmering light cleaving through the darkness. _

_Instead the green clashed with a dark violent red blade. It was the color of blood, all the blood that he had spilled. Vader's strength surprised Mara but she was far younger and her body intact. She slipped easily out of his grasp as he reached out to grab her. She could sense his growing anger, it built within him and destroyed him from the inside out. _

_Within moments they were locked in a heated battle. It was a sight to see, the massive dark lord towered over the young girl. She could have been no more than eight years old, yet she was an impressive foe. _

_As they danced the ancient and intricate pattern of the duel, Vader marveled at the grace with which the child moved. She was a natural with the lightsaber and though she drew her power from the Light, Vader could feel the conflict within her. He could feel her rage toward him and her hatred, simmering beneath the surface. Her self control was exquisite, most children her age would not be able to control their emotions so well. He he had not been able to. He had come to Coruscant to train as a Jedi when he had been around her age. He had been so young then, impressionable. _

_The girl was impressive, he had to give her that. She ducked his every thrust and parried him easily. She countered his aggressive strokes with smooth defenses and finally began to wear him down. She began to slip through his defenses, nicking his suit in several places. She had cut his cape completely from his body and he feared that she would break through the thick surface of the suit and destroy the pressure system that kept him alive. _

_Finally Mara broke through, diving beneath one forceful thrust he sent at her. She twisted up beneath him and thrust her lightsaber up to catch his. The bright burning blade of her saber caught his fingers and hissed loudly against the metal of his saber's grip. The weapon bounced from his hand, along with several artificial fingers. The pain registered deep within Vader's mind but he did not feel it. It was nothing compared to the pain of the past. _

_Vader stumbled back away from the child and stared at her in shock. She was a young girl and she had disarmed him. Anger burned in him but beneath it was a new respect. _

_She eyed him warily and he could sense her gathering her power, preparing to launch her final attack. With a sudden eerie certainty, Vader knew that he would not survive if Mara Jade decided to kill him. No one would. An odd foreboding tickled at his senses but he shut it out. _

_Lifting one hand, Vader decided to end it once and for all. The power of the dark side of the Force flowed through him. It crackled around him like lightning and he reached out with the Force to touch her mind. Gently pressing down upon the pressure points in her skull with the Force, he was pleased when she dropped suddenly to his feet. Her green eyes that had burned so brightly like the saber she wielded, dropped shut and darkness came over them. _

_Vader knelt beside the young girl and laid one gloved hand lightly upon her forehead. He could feel her energy still pulsing through the Force but it was subdued now. She had slipped back into the realm of unconsciousness and if he so chose, she would never waken again. _

_Vader called his saber to his hand with the Force and it ignited instantly within his grasp. The blood red light bathed her innocent face and made her red-gold hair glow like the fire that crackled all around them. He stood there amidst the destruction he had wrought and lifted his blade, preparing to bring it down upon her neck and remove one more potential Jedi from the Universe forever. _

_She shifted suddenly, eyelids fluttering and shuddered in her unnatural sleep. A soft moan came from her lips and for the first time, Vader saw her purity, her innocence. Distantly a part of him that had long been buried wondered if his own daughter would have been anything like this. Fiery and graceful and powerful. He could take this girl with her, present her to his Master and possibly take her on as his own apprentice someday. Perhaps. _

_Or perhaps she would be more powerful than him. If he presented her to Palpatine, what would keep him from getting rid of Vader for good? Beneath the cover of his mask, Vader's face was twisted and concentrated in thought. _

_He reached out the saber and the blade hovered above her throat. He could take her life right now, snuff out her existence. He could allow her to join her mother in the Force. Perhaps that was the kindest thing he could do. _

_Yet he found that he could not do it. It was as if the Force itself stayed his hand. He could not kill Mara Jade. That Force sense hidden deep in his blood urged him not to destroy her. She was destined for greater things. He could feel it. _

_In his mind, he saw a flicker of a young boy with sandy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. The young face was burned by the suns of his home world and slowly morphed into the face of a young man. His face was scarred with years of long battle and an aura of power emanated from him in Vader's mind. He reached out his hand to touch Vader and the other hand was reaching out to touch the girl, a tall woman with hair like flame and eyes like jade. _

_The vision passed from his mind and Vader stood still. The vision had come from the light and once it had passed, the darkness swept back through him. Yet a spark remained hidden in the depths of his soul. It was this that stayed his hand. Vader extinguished his lightsaber, the red glow vanished and the only light remaining was the fire that continued to burn in the distance. He gathered the child in his arms and Mara shifted unconsciously at the embrace. She threw her arms around his neck and snuggled her face into the hard shell of his suit. She was deep in the trance which Vader had sent her into and her mind was open now, completely trusting of him. Just like a child. Like his own child might have done. Only he would have been able to hold his child with his own human arms. Look down at them through his own eyes instead of this ghastly contraption. One moment of decision and how much had been lost to him for it? Anakin Skywalker still clung to him like a ghost, reminding him only of the bitter pain of his losses. _

_Pressing her small body closer to him, Vader wrapped his cloak around the girl and turned to walk away from the fire. It was the end of her childhood and the beginning of her destiny. _

_-_


	2. A Cycle of Vision

-

Chapter Two:

A Cycle of Vision

-

The crackling of flames still resounded in the air all around them as Luke and Mara slipped back into the present. The cycle of visions halted as quickly as they had come. The images faded back into Mara's mind while they hovered fresh in Luke's. Tears stained both of their faces and Luke swallowed a sob that threatened to rise up from within his chest. The sight of his father slaying Mara's mother had broken his heart.

"Mara," he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "Oh Mara, my love," he kissed her tears, tasting the salt of her pain and feeling it resound within his heart. "I am so sorry."

Mara's fingers tangled in his hair as he kissed her face, murmuring soft words of sorrow. She knew how much the sight of Vader's acts would affect him. It was the reason she had never shown him. The confusing paradox of where Anakin had ended and Vader began had always haunted him. His artificial hand seemed to give an old echo of pain. The line where man and machine blurred together within him. It was a constant reminder of what his father had become. His vision flickered momentarily and he saw his father's face in his mind, the young, strong Jedi that Anakin had once been. The face shifted from the handsome visage to the dark mask of Vader as he murdered Mara's mother.

"So many years you wanted to kill me," Luke muttered. "And when you discovered that my father killed your mother, you didn't take any vengeance on me." His blue eyes were electric as they looked upon her and Mara felt her heart swell with emotion.

"You taught me better than that, Skywalker. My parents taught me better than that when I was a small child. I treasure those few memories of them more than I can hate Vader for what he did." Mara shifted slightly and her gaze flickered from Luke's, out into the horizon. "I never really hated Vader," Mara whispered. "I used to think that I was the one person in the galaxy that wasn't afraid of him. Though I loved the Emperor, he still controlled me through a measure of fear. Fear that there was no life for me beyond serving him." Mara shifted her eyes back to her lover. Luke was watching her quietly, his love for her was mingled with the sorrow in his eyes and she wanted nothing more than to see that sadness gone.

"You have already paid for the sins of your father tenfold, Luke. You don't have to apologize for him anymore," Mara leaned forward to kiss him softly, moving from his lips to the wetness on his face. His eyes closed beneath the touch of her lips as they soothed each other's sorrow.

He stared at her, tears glimmering in his blue eyes and shook his head. "He stole your childhood. He gave you to the Emperor to be trained as an assassin."

"Which is probably the best thing he could have done for me," Mara told him. Her eyes focused on the darkened world around them. Shadows covered them now, the only light that remained was the silvery starlight that shone down upon them from above.

"Vader could have killed me when he found me. He had known my parents, they were strong Jedi and he must have sensed my powers. Sometimes I think that he let me live in the hopes that I might become his apprentice when the Emperor was killed. Vader always had the will to rule the galaxy, but he did not want to do it alone. He was not as greedy as the Emperor." She felt silent suddenly, the stream of words dying as she turned her eyes back to Luke.

He was watching her with silent, understanding eyes. She could see the shadows of his own memories flickering there, teasing at the edges of her own. Vader standing before Luke, stretching out his hand and inviting his son to join him. Palpatine's laughter crackling around him like the lightning that had racked their bones.

"Sometimes I wonder," Luke spoke in a whisper so soft that Mara would not have heard if she could not sense his shift of emotions so clearly. His eyes clouded over, as if he were seeing something glimmering beyond her in the cooling darkness of the night.

"What don't we wonder, Luke?" Mara whispered softly, she touched his face lightly, turning his eyes back to her. His eyes cleared and she could see the sorrow that he had held within him all his life, for a father he had never known.

"I wonder what caused his fall," Luke whispered. "There is so much that I have never understood. How did Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader?" Luke sighed, "How do I keep from making the same mistakes, Mara?"

"You are your own man, Luke Skywalker. You could never become Vader."

"No," Luke whispered. "I have touched the darkness but I know my path is of the light." He grasped her hand on his face and kissed the palm gently.

"It is my students who concern me," he looked up at her and his meaning was not lost on her. That was her Skywalker, always worrying about the rest of the galaxy. And he was worried about her.

"I teach them everything I can but there is so much that I feel I have yet to learn."

Mara studied him with her green hooded gaze, her mind reaching out to touch him lightly. He never flinched from her touch, mental or physical. He was the only one who had ever accepted her as she was. She knew she had to do the same of him.

Yet there was something he was not saying here, she could sense it in the Force. "What have you seen, Luke?" She was not sure how the question had formed in her mouth. Mara heard a roaring as of wind in her ears yet the desert was still. It felt as though the Force had spoken through her, yet she had never imagined what it would feel like.

Luke was studying her with a subdued calm but there was an odd light in his eyes. "How did you know?"

She shook her head, the surge of the Force within her was receding and it left her with a quiet clarity. "The Force spoke to me."

Luke nodded and squeezed her hands tightly, she could feel his mind wrapping around her and enfolding her within the warmth of his presence. His light Force touch trailed over her skin like his fingertips and Mara shivered at the sensation.

"I have felt it as well," Luke murmured softly. His eyes were closed as he focused intently. "There have been many fluctuations in the Force recently, ripples that seem to have spread from ancient stones." Luke opened his hand and reached down to reach into the sand. Mara watched as he slowly poured the sand from one hand to another until it disappeared back into the ground. He continued to speak softly, as if from a great distance.

"The Force is like an ocean, constantly pulling and shifting us all in its waves. It pulls me in along the tide, drawing me ever inward. I have felt it let me swim free along the current." He opened his eyes and the brightness of them blinded her for a second. The blue seemed to blaze like cold fire. His gaze was fixed upon her but he seemed to be looking through her and beyond the veil of vision.

"I have never been strong in the Sight," Luke whispered. "What visions I have had are always tricky and have led me into trouble in the past." His eyes cleared and he looked at her once more. "You never questioned me when I asked you to come to Tatooine with me."

The change of subject seemed abrupt but Mara could sense something deeper beneath his words. She studied him silently and smiled. "While I've never considered this dust ball to be an especially romantic getaway," this won her a flirtatious smile from her future husband. Mara couldn't help but grin, " I wasn't going to pass up a chance to get of Yavin for a few weeks."

"I needed you here," Luke's gaze flickered from her to the darkened sands all around them. The land was empty and silent around them, the wind cried over the desert with its keen wailing. Mara listened to the song of the wind and thought she could sense a message coded within the sound. There was something about this place that had drawn Luke back here, something beyond the ties of a childhood home, she could feel it clearly.

Luke shifted uneasily suddenly and looked back to her, "I know that sounds selfish but it is true. There is something I must discover here and I need you to help me, Mara." There was a note of desperation in his typically calm demeanor. A note of fear sounded like a chord thrumming in Mara's soul and she silenced it with a thought. She would not fear.

"It's not selfish," Mara whispered. "You know that I will help you in any way that I can."

"You already have," he told her. "The vision that you shared with me seems like a piece to the puzzle. But I must collect the rest." Mara shivered at his words as the cold wind snaked over her skin. Luke noticed her trembling and reached out to wrap his arms around her.

"It's freezing out here, we should get inside. I forget that you're not used to nights in the desert." He didn't seem affected at all by the biting cold. Mara clenched her jaw and noticed for the first time that he had never answered her original question. What exactly had he seen that had brought them here?

He saw her hesitation clearly, the questions forming in her mind. Rising to his feet, he was aglow with starlight against the shadows. She lifted his hands to him and allowed him to lift her to her feet. She came up flush against him, his whole body warming her instantly upon contact.

"You haven't answered my question, Skywalker."

"I will," he answered softly. He kissed her gently, their proximity was too much for him to consider anything else at that moment. She met his lips willingly, his warmth flooding through her and she forgot the cold.

Taking her hand in his, Luke turned and led them back to the homestead they had come to inhabit in the past few days on Tatooine. The lonely sight of Obi-Wan's refuge on Tatooine rose up before them. It was a lonely citadel amidst the sands, Ben's own private fortress where he had watched over Luke as a child. The interior was sparsely furnished but Luke had restored some of the hut himself years ago when he had come to Tatooine to save his sister and Han from the clutches of Jabba. That was the first time Mara had seen him, if she had known about this place then she could probably have found him before he had ever stepped foot in Jabba's palace. But Obi-Wan had hidden too well for too long and due to her failure at the Emperor's mission, she now stood beside the only man she had ever truly loved. Sensing her thoughts, Luke drew closer to her and hooked one arm around her waist. She yielded to his warmth, leaning against him as they entered the small abode together.

Mara sat gracefully in an old chair at Obi-Wan's table. Though the two of them had made this place their temporary home, the presence of the old Jedi master was still strong. He may have been gone for over three decades, but his some remnant of his spirit seemed to linger here in this place. It brought her an odd sort of peace to know that perhaps Obi-Wan was still watching over Luke, and perhaps watching over her as well.

"Yes, I can feel him very clearly here." Luke was becoming too good at responding to Mara's unspoken words. "Almost as if he never left, though I know he is beyond us now. Obi-Wan is one with the Force and the Force is so clear here. It is only natural that we can sense his presence so strongly." Luke's gaze scanned the room where Obi-Wan's possessions still stood. There was a trunk in the corner, the same one from which Obi-Wan had pulled his father's lightsaber on that fateful day so many years ago. Luke had yet to open the trunk and sort through the remnants of his former teacher's life, yet he knew the time would come. He knew that Obi-Wan still had one lesson left to teach him.

"Obi-Wan loved Anakin like a brother, like a son. He knew the secrets of my family better than I ever did. He understood them, it seemed only natural that I return here to his home and see if he has any answers hidden here for me to find."

"Luke," Mara reached over and took his hand. He came close to her side, reaching out to smooth the red gold locks of her hair. "What are you trying to find?"

Luke sat down at the table across from her and shook his head. He scrubbed his artificial hand over his face wearily. "I'm not quite sure, Mara. I had a vision of my father here on Tatooine but it was all tangled up with my own memories. I felt fear and death here but there was love beneath it all. A deep and abiding love that has never faded. A woman's face entered my mind, pale and wise. She looked so much like Leia..." His words faded away as he saw the image hover before him once more, the vision of a woman who could only be one person.

Mara understood now, she looked upon the man before her with a love so fierce that it burned her. "You are looking for your mother."

Luke closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. It seemed that all of the years as an orphan suddenly seemed to weigh upon his shoulders. The discovery of who his father truly was had only left him with more questions.

"No," Luke whispered. "I am certain that she must be dead," Luke whispered. "Otherwise she would have shown up by now. If she was still alive somewhere then she would have come to me and Leia, contacted us, I'm sure of it." He wasn't sure at all really, he did not even know who his mother was but he could not imagine that she would have kept silent for so many years if she was still alive.

"Even so," Mara said. "You have every right to the truth. You deserve to know who she was."

"Yes," Luke murmured. "But I'm wary of doing so."

"Why?" Mara was puzzled. After the shock of his father being Darth Vader, Mara would have thought Luke could handle the true identity of his mother. Whoever she was, she couldn't have been worse than Vader.

"I feel as though Anakin's love for my mother was tangled up in the fear and anger that led him to the dark side." Luke bit his lip and Mara could see the little boy in him who just wanted his parents by his side.

"What are you afraid of, Luke?" Mara was concerned now, something seemed to be trouble him deeply about this whole affair.

Luke let out a long breath and didn't meet her piercing eyes as he spoke, "The Jedi of the Old Republic forbid romantic attachment. They believed that such strong emotion was dangerous for the Jedi." He shifted uneasily and looked everywhere but at her. Yet Mara knew that this was more about her than he was saying.

"You're afraid of our love, Luke?" She was not angry, which surprised both of them. He had taught her too well. His blue eyes, so beloved, flickered finally to meet her gaze and she saw the shame in him that he could think such a thing of their sacred union.

"I have never felt like this about anyone, Mara." The honesty in his voice stole her breath away and made her heart skip a beat. Sometimes she was overwhelmed by her love for him, and knowing how much he loved her.

"Our bond through the Force is such a natural thing," Luke went on. "We fit together so easily. And love is the very essence of life. It was my love for my father, my belief in him that brought Anakin back to the light. It was his love for me and the spark of goodness that remained within him that allowed that transition to be possible." Luke shook his head and frustration seemed to emanate from him. He was not afraid, but he was confused and anxious. Mara could sense that now.

"I can see how love can be dangerous," Mara whispered. Luke looked at her intently and said nothing, so she continued. "I have seen women so in love with their man that they allow themselves to be beaten. Some allow themselves to be absorbed into their lover's identity until they seem to no longer have a face. I have seen jealousy come from love, anger and betrayal and darkness." The conflict inside of Luke seemed to be increasing and Mara shook her head.

"But it was you showed me that love does not have to be like that, Luke. It was you who showed me the purity of true love and how it can bring peace and joy and a light so bright that it sweeps away any shadow." Mara took his hand and placed the palm flat over her heart. Luke could feel the steady pulsing beneath the flesh. It seemed to speed up at the thrill of his touch, but its steady beat reassured him.

"This is life. Life is the Force. Light and dark, love and hate. It is a circle, Luke. There has to be a balance to everything. Our love is good, it is right. It is the best thing I have ever known. It was our love that allowed me to truly understand the Force, to become a Jedi."

Luke nodded, the anxiety seemed to drain from his body. "You're right, Mara. Of course you're right. Love is just like anything else in life, just like the Force. It has its own light and dark and as Jedi we have to walk the path between the two."

"Yes," Mara stood and made her way around the table to her lover's side. "But as man and woman, we have the same right to love that every being in the galaxy has. We cannot allow our roles as Jedi to compromise our humanity."

Luke looked up at her with wonder on his face, "You amaze me every day, Mara Jade. When did you become so wise?"

Mara smirked and slid down into his lap, stealing a kiss from his waiting lips. "Must be all those Jedi I've been hanging around with."

Luke's hands tightened on her waist and he chuckled softly against her lips, "Thank you for calming my fears."

She shrugged it off though the smile that curved her lips told him how pleased she was by his thanks. "For years it seems, it has been your role to teach me how to be a Jedi, Luke. And I believe that it has always been my role to remind you that you are still human. We balance each other out. This is part of what love is about."

"Its just such a new experience," Luke shook his head. "An amazing one, but something we're still figuring out nonetheless." He looked into her eyes as they darkened from her normal jade green to verdant. It was a transition he had only recently become accustomed to, but he knew what it meant. She shifted herself on his lap and he suddenly became very aware of her body pressed against his.

Mara smirked at him. That wide eyed innocence of his was irresistible. She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him softly beneath his ear as she whispered. "Why don't we take this party to bed, Master Skywalker, and maybe I'll give you another amazing experience to figure out." Luke smiled happily, all of his fears forgotten for the moment as he kissed her. They tumbled into bed together joyfully, all haunting memories of death and pain had faded from their minds.

Beyond the rough clay walls of the hut, however, the wind was beginning to pick up. The sand began to swirl in small cyclones, beating against the walls in rhythm with the heated lovemaking within. The darkness of the night grew deeper and the worst storm that Tatooine had ever known, was stirring in the depths.

-


	3. A Name From The Past

-

Chapter Three:

A Name from the Past

-

The Jedi stood on the balcony, deep in his morning meditations. The sun was rising over the land beyond him but he did not see it. He was looking beyond the beauty of the sunrise, past the veil of the Force to where his visions led. His hands were clasped behind his back so tightly that the knuckles were white with the force of his grip. The meditation was supposed to bring peace to a Jedi's mind but his soul was filled with conflict. He did not embrace the morning as a Jedi should, instead he seemed to stand up against it as if he could conquer it if it challenged him.

This was how she found him when she stepped out onto the balcony. A silhouette of a man against the sunrise. A chill ran over her flesh as she looked at him, the shape of his body against the sun was dark and almost faceless. It was as if the darkness clung to him. For the briefest moment, she saw a dark mask over his beautiful face. She turned then to walk away from him, away from the unnerving sight of his darkness. His voice stopped her in his tracks.

"Don't go," it was a whispered plea that sounded so much like the little boy she had once known.

"I don't want to disturb you," she spoke cautiously as she turned back to him. He stood still in the position he had adopted, feet planted firmly upon the ground. His eyes were closed against the light in the horizon.

"Your presence is soothing," he murmured. The emotions that welled up within him at her very presence was often anything but soothing but at this moment just knowing she was near brought him peace.

She was silent for a long moment as she studied him. "You had a nightmare again last night."

"Jedi don't have nightmares," he whispered. She didn't believe that for a second however.

"I heard you," it was her only response. She could not admit that she had not been able to sleep after how close they had come to giving into temptation the night before. She could not tell him how hard it had been for her to resist the urge to climb into bed with him and soothe away the nightmares.

He opened his eyes, those blue eyes as clear as the sky beyond, and looked at her. His gaze always seemed to look into her very soul and uncover any secret she might be hiding. She resisted the urge to shift uneasily beneath that piercing gaze.

"I saw my mother," he told her. A flash of pain darkened the brightness of his eyes and she felt his pain as if it were her own. "I saw her as clearly as I see you now. She is suffering Padmé. They are killing her!" A flash of anger erupted from deep within his heart at the certain knowledge. He had promised his mother that he would free her, that he would take her away from Tatooine and let her live in peace somewhere. He had failed her. He had failed. The knowledge of that failure resounded within him until he knew nothing else.

Taking a deep breath, he faced the woman he loved so dearly and spoke with a grim determination. "I know that I am disobeying my mandate to protect you, Senator but I must go. I have to help her." The desperation in his voice struck a chord within her. She remembered the little boy she had befriended so many years earlier. A slave newly freed, with sand still in his hair and a childish enthusiasm that he had never lost. They had both been alone in the galaxy then, and now here they were again. This time they only had each other.

Her mind made up, Padmé spoke into the silence that followed his statement. "If you must go then I will go with you," she knew that he would try to discourage her if he could but she did not let him. She applied her logic to the situation and knew he could not deny it. "That way you can continue to protect me and you won't be disobeying your mandate."

Anakin frowned slightly at the logic but could not deny it. He had only one card left to play, "What about Master Obi-Wan?"

Padmé smiled and stepped closer, taking his hand. "I guess we won't tell him, will we?"

Anakin Skywalker felt his heart skip a beat at that smile, and when it resumed beating once more it was twice as fast as before. She had always had this effect on him.

He smiled back and brought her hand to his lips. The gesture seemed to steal Padmé's breath away, her heart pounded in her chest. He saw the light in her eyes and recognized it, she licked her lips nervously and that broke the last of Anakin's will. He lowered his lips to hers, damning the consequences.

The moment stood frozen in time. The two of them embracing in the light of the dawn, when everything had begun. The vision was unfolding through his eyes, he could see into the hearts of both so clearly. Damn the consequences, Anakin had thought and indeed, he certainly had damned Luke and Leia. Yet the glow of the light pervaded Luke's soul as his parents embraced. He felt himself being drawn into them, back into the memories that were etched in his blood.

The horizon seemed to grow brighter and suddenly he was back on Tatooine. The familiar feel of the wind whipping through his robes and the warm glow of the suns setting on his face. There was a fury in his heart that could not be abated, he had only one purpose. He had to destroy the creatures that had taken his mother, had hurt her, raped her soul.

He felt his mind growing dark and struggled to hold the shadows at bay. The familiar land beneath him was unseen to his eyes, he followed her Force call. The bond he had with her as a child had faded beneath the bond that he held with Obi-Wan but it had sparked up fiercely within the past few weeks. The thought of his Master sent a flush of shame through his body. He loved Obi-Wan so fiercely that sometimes he hated it. He was the only family Anakin had ever known after he had left Tatooine. He had followed Obi-Wan for so many years and he knew his Master would not approve of what he was doing at this moment.

He could hear his Master's voice in his mind. Anger leads to hate, Anakin. You are much too angry. Allow the Force to guide you, do not battle with it.

The camp rose up before him all too quickly and he stopped thinking of Obi-Wan and Padmé and the Jedi Order. All he knew was his purpose that had driven him here, it filled him with the Force and pushed him forward along his path.

He slipped into the camp silently, another shadow flickering on the edges of the light. He could feel his mother's pain pulling him toward her, it echoed through the Force and he followed silently. A small hut appeared in the darkness, two guards stationed at the entrance. Anakin glared at them momentarily before a fresh wave of pain struck him. She was inside the hut, he could feel it.

Easing around the back, he ignited his lightsaber. The flickering blue light of the blade illuminated his grim face as he cut a hole into the wall. Squeezing into the small room, Anakin stood to his full height and faced his mother.

A shaft of moonlight fell in from an opening in the roof, its silvery light mingling with the fiery glow of a dozen candles. Shmi Skywalker hung suspended from a wooden frame in the middle of the hut. The ropes cut into her flesh, her head hung low, face bruised and swollen.

Anakin felt the tears sting his eyes as he cut her loose, enfolding her into his arms as she had always done for him. She was the small one now, shrunken in upon herself and he struggled to ease her pain through the Force. Blood caked her face, matted the long dark hair and her eyes did not open. Anakin swallowed the stone in his throat and called to her gently.

"Mom..." His voice cracked on the word but she responded to his voice. Her eyes struggled to open beneath the blood that had crusted over them. He could see the dark slits of her eyes beneath that veil as they tried to focus on him.

"Ani... Is that you?" Her voice was no more than a whisper and Anakin choked on a sob as she reached out for him.

"I'm here, Mom." He grasped her hand firmly, "You're safe now, I'm going to get you out of here." An odd echo of his own voice seemed to reverberate through the Force at his words. For a moment, his mother's face wavered and he saw the indistinct face of a man so like his own.

Shmi squeezed his hand and the vision vanished like smoke on the wind. She was smiling up at him with clear eyes now. "Ani, you're so handsome. My son... my Anakin. I'm so proud of you, Ani... I missed you so much," every word was a struggle as she gasped for breath. "Now... I am complete."

Anakin felt fear rise up within him as he saw her light begin to fade, "Just stay with me, Mom," she was blurry beneath the tears that burned his eyes. "I'm going to make you well again." Even as he spoke the words, he knew that she was beyond his power. He could not stop death.

Shmi smiled lovingly up at her son and reached out to touch his face, Anakin felt the tears begin to stream down his cheeks and over her fingers. She drew her last breath and spoke to him, "I love you..."

The light faded and her words vanished into the darkness. A guttural sob was torn from the throat of the young Jedi as he gathered his mother's lifeless form against his breast. Gently he rocked her as if she were a child, weeping quietly as her presence faded and Shmi Skywalker became one with the Force.

The image was frozen in time. Frozen before the anger could rise up in the young Jedi. The vision held itself still, that last lingering image of a child cradling his dead mother. It burned into the mind of Anakin's children, seared the heart.

-

The room was cloaked in darkness when Leia Organa Solo awoke from the dream. Her breath was caught in her chest and tears burned her eyes. That had been no ordinary dream, she could feel it deep in her heart. What she had seen had been a vision of the past.

Slipping quietly out of the bed, Leia disentangled herself from her husband's sleeping form. Han shifted slightly as she pulled away and mumbled in his sleep. Leaning over to place a soft kiss against his forehead, Leia waited until he was still before she moved away.

Crossing the room silently, she drew her robe around her shivering flesh. The night was still around her and the darkness seemed to choke her. Oppressed by the weight of the vision, the darkness of the room, Leia slipped out through the door quietly and into the kitchen.

The tears had dried on her face but the images still haunted her mind. The sight of her father cradling his mother in his arms had been too much. Leia felt the overwhelming need to check in on her own children, safe in their beds. She had taken two steps toward their rooms until she remembered that all three of her children were at the Jedi temple on Yavin.

She stopped herself in mid-stride and let out a low sigh. Closing her eyes against the dim light of the room, Leia reached out through the Force to touch her children. It was morning on Yavin, all three of them were awake and concentrating hard. In the middle of lessons, Leia decided. Jacen and Jaina were both deeply involved in whatever they were doing. They did not seem to feel her light touch through the Force. For a moment, they brightened and then faded slightly from her mind. Anakin felt her touch clearly however. Far away on Yavin IV, he smiled in his morning meditations. He could feel her touch clearly, as if her familiar hand had grasped his. He glowed brightly in her mind and reached back to touch her through their bond. She could not hear whatever words he might have spoken, but the love was clearer than glass.

Leia's mind was instantly soothed, she released a wave of love and gratitude to her youngest son through the Force. He accepted it gratefully and then his star faded as he turned his mind back to his meditations. She was happy to feel them all there however, three minds connected to her own. She wondered at how she had ever taken the Force for granted.

The Force had shown her this vision tonight. Leia's mind returned to it with a renewed clarity. She could almost hear her brother's voice in the back of her mind. Concentrate, Leia. The Force had shown her this vision for a reason.

Luke. She could feel him in the back of her mind as well. He had been her first connection through the Force. While her children's presences were stronger, he was the most familiar to her mind. Their connection had been forged in the womb, long before they had been separated by fate.

She did not reach out to Luke however. She could feel him far away, his presence growing brighter gradually as if he had also just woken. She wondered what he had dreamt of. She could not help but feel as though he had been there beside her in the dream, watching the visions unfold. She could not be sure, but something was making her anxious about the whole thing. Something seemed off.

Slowly, Leia went through the ritual of making herself a cup of tea as she mulled over the dream. Her vision had been twofold, and as the sorrow of the last image faded from her mind, the first was slowly taking precedence. Anakin had been standing beside a small woman, one whose presence had seemed so familiar to her.

With a start, Leia dropped the cup in her hand. It shattered on the kitchen floor in a thousand pieces. She did not notice.

"Padmé..." Leia spoke the name aloud, a soft whisper in the silence of the night. It was her mother's name, she knew that now. Instantly her thoughts turned to her twin, Luke would want to know. But she had no way to contact him. Leia was alone with her knowledge.

The familiar presence that approached her then proved the lie in her thoughts. She was never alone when Han was around. Her husband appeared in the doorway, yawning sleepily as he gazed at her through blurry eyes.

"What's wrong, princess?" His eyes narrowed as soon as they focused on her. She was disheveled, her hair tousled beautifully but her face was pale. The glittering shards of the cup on the ground and her evident unawareness of them proved something was wrong.

Leia's gaze wandered up to meet his eyes and with a sudden rush of movement, she enfolded herself in his arms. Han accepted her willingly, fitting her body against his as easily as it always had. He stroked her long hair softly, putting aside the confusion that raced through him.

"Leia?" His voice was hesitant as he hugged her closer and she shivered in his arms.

"I had a vision..." Her words were muffled by his chest but he heard them all the same. Han's arms tightened around his wife protectively. As the one non Force sensitive member of his family, he had come to respect the Force but he was still wary of it at times.

"Is Luke all right? The kids?" There was concern in his voice and Leia shook her head.

"No, they're all right. It wasn't that kind of vision," Leia was still trying to puzzle out exactly what kind of vision it had been. Not for the first time, she wondered if it wasn't time for her to head out to Yavin and begin training as a Jedi.

Han frowned and rested his chin on her head as she curled closer into him. "What kind of vision was it then?"

"A vision of the past..." Leia whispered. In her mind's eyes, she could still see her parents embracing, her father weeping. "I saw my parents... My real parents, Anakin and Padmé..." Leia shook her head, almost in disbelief. "They loved each other so much, Han."

Her husband was silent for a long moment, simply holding her until her trembling had passed. Leia was not a frail woman, she was strong and fierce and that was part of why Han Solo loved her. Not much could shake this woman but when something did, he made sure that he was there to hold her until it had passed.

"It was the past, sweetheart. Whatever you saw, it's over now." Han reassured her, one hand rubbing the small of her back gently.

"No..." Leia whispered. Her eyes were far away, as if seeing something in the distance that Han could not. He studied her carefully, in all the years he had known her he had never seen her like this.

"It's not over, Han. The Force is trying to tell me something here, but I can't see what it is." Her dark eyes turned to meet his and he felt as though he could lose himself in those depths. "A storm is coming, Han. I have to get to Luke."

"I thought you said the vision wasn't about Luke," Han was growing slightly alarmed now. It wasn't like Leia to dash off upon the whim of the Force.

"He wasn't in the vision but I could sense his presence with me. As if he were there, watching the events unfold beside me," Leia shook her head. "I just can't help feeling that I need to get to him right away." Her dark eyes turned up to him and she bit her lip, silently pleading with him. He couldn't say no to that face even if he wanted to.

Han grinned at her then, that roguish grin that had won her heart so many years ago. "Whether the kid is in danger or not, I suppose a trip to Tatooine can't hurt us too much."

Leia groaned, remembering the last time they had taken a trip to Luke's home planet. For an instant she saw her father again, flying through the desert of Tatooine at sunset. A chill washed over her and she wrapped her arms around her as Han drew away. "I forgot they were on Tatooine," she whispered. Something in the Force seemed to push at her suddenly, as if reinforcing the importance of this forgotten fact. A piece of the puzzle seemed to click into place. "We have to go."

Han seemed to positively glow with energy as he smiled at her, "I'll go ready the Falcon."

Leia stood alone in the kitchen, struggling to gather her thoughts. The Force was pushing her along this path and she did not know why. Yet she could feel it moving her forward like a hand on her back. She shivered at the idea and moved out of the kitchen to follow her husband.

-

When Luke awoke, it was as if rising suddenly from underwater. He shot up in bed, gasping for breath, eyes darting wildly around the room. The visions had overwhelmed him with their intensity. He had been able to sense every thought, every emotion, every detail of what had happened. The sleep had been unreal, as if he had been living the moments in the past. Images still hovered in his mind's eye, his father as a young man and a Jedi. This was the Anakin Skywalker that Ben had first spoken of, the pilot and the Jedi, the good friend. And the woman, so like Leia. He had a name now, that had to be something, his mother's name. Padmé.

Mara stirred beside him, propping herself up on one arm to look up at her lover. Luke stood from the bed, his bare feet hitting the cold floor. The wind seemed to be rushing outside and the world seemed darker than normal for an early Tatooine morning. As long as it had been since he experienced one, Luke knew that sound.

"Luke?" Mara's voice was husky with sleep as she called out to him. She yawned sleepily, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "Come back to bed, love."

"There is a storm brewing, Mara." His agitation was too great to be contained. He began to pace the length of the small room, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

Mara frowned at him and sat up fully, studying him quietly. "Force or sand?"

"Both, I think." Luke shot a glance at her and ceased his pacing. Her red-gold hair was tousled and draped loosely around bare shoulders. The sheet was wrapped around her for warmth but he could see the curves beneath that he had memorized already. Her green eyes were dark in the morning, hazy with sleep. They were clearing even as she looked at him, reverting back to bright jade.

"You had another vision." She could see the ghosts that still lingered in his eyes, they crowded close around him. His sleep had been troubled and now she knew why.

"Can't put anything past you," Luke murmured. His eyes were still fixed on her and slowly he sat down on the hard packed dirt floor and folded his legs beneath him. She recognized the pose and wondered if he thought he could escape her questions through meditation.

"What did you see, Luke?" Mara stood up from the bed and realized, too late, that she was still naked. The cold air wrapped around her flesh, chilling her to the bone and Luke shot to his feet, wrapping his cloak around her.

"As much as I love you wearing nothing but your own skin," he smiled softly. "You'll catch your death in this desert if you keep that habit up." His arms folded around her with the cloak and she basked in his sudden warmth.

"It just seems like so much effort to stay clothed around you when I know the garments will eventually just be torn off." Mara shot a glance toward her clothes that she had been wearing the day before. They did seem to be ripped in several places where Luke had been too eager to expose the flesh beneath.

He chuckled softly and the vibrations rumbled through her skin, "I'll be more careful next time."

"Please don't," Mara turned her face up to kiss him on the lips. "I wouldn't have you any other way, Farmboy."

They stood together for a long time, wrapped up in the warmth of each other. Breathing each other in and listening to the sound of the wind roaring outside.

"I saw my parents together this time," Luke whispered. "I saw Anakin and Padmé."

"Padmé?" Mara shifted in his arms to turn and face him. "Your mother?"

"Yes," Luke's eyes were not on her but looking within to his vision. "He loved her so much, Mara. I could feel it. When he spoke her name, I knew." He smiled sadly, "Leia looks so much like her. Both small and dark, the same grace with which they carry themselves, the same authoritative way of speaking."

"Padmé..." Mara frowned to herself, the name seemed to stir some recognition deep inside of her. "Where have I heard that name before?"

Luke stiffened, his arms around her suddenly tense. "You knew her?" The excitement in his voice was evident and Mara hated to destroy it.

"No..." She spoke slowly, searching her memories for that tingle of knowledge. "But Palpatine did. I think... Naboo!"

"What?" Luke was puzzled by the word she had exclaimed, it sounded like nonsense to his ears but he knew that there was something more here. "What is Naboo?"

"It's a planet," the excitement was in Mara's voice now as she looked up at him. "It was Palpatine's home world, the planet that he was Senator of before he became Emperor. Padmé Amidala was the Queen who reigned on Naboo during the Federation War. I learned about her in my history courses, Palpatine considered her a traitor which naturally meant she was on the right side all along," Luke smiled at this and Mara was glad to see the sorrow fade from his eyes.

"When I was the Emperor's Hand, I saw holos of her and you're right, she does look like Leia. I never connected it before." Mara's eyes suddenly darkened as something occurred to her. Luke was watching her silently, absorbing the information she was giving him.

"What is odd is where I saw those Holo pictures..." Mara's eyes were turned inward, focused on the memories of her old life. "I saw them in Vader's home, they were the only photos hanging on the wall. I thought at the time that it was odd for him to keep photos of a woman who was known to be one of the founders of the Rebel Alliance. At the time, I thought that perhaps the photos were a reminder that the Senate could not be trusted. But now..."

"He never stopped loving her," Luke whispered. "I can't imagine how he didn't recognize her features in Leia. All those years Leia was hidden right under his nose and he didn't recognize her as his own daughter."

"Who can know when it comes to Vader?" Mara shook her head, "Are you going to tell Leia about your mother?"

"Of course," Luke could sense Leia's presence distantly. Her presence shone constantly in his mind like a star brighter than all the rest. He could sense his niece and nephews more distantly, Jaina, Jacen and young Anakin all hard at work at their training on Yavin IV. Mara's presence eclipsed them all, shining around him at that moment like a sun giving off warmth. He knew that if he stretched out, he could touch them all and speak to them through the Force. Leia seemed to grow brighter as he thought of her. Something in her energy seemed troubled, pensive and he wondered at her thoughts.

"When we return to Coruscant, I will tell her all that I have found. I will show her the visions I have seen and what knowledge I have uncovered. But my work here is far from done, Mara. This is only the first step of the journey." Even as he spoke the words, Luke did not know where the journey would take them. He still did not know what he was looking for, he had found what he had thought he was searching for, his mother's identity. But there was something more, something deeper hidden here that the Force was leading him towards.

"Today we'll go to my home," Luke said. The Force was pulling at him, making this decision. He saw his father again for a moment, flickering in his mind as he cradled his mothers lifeless body. Anakin had been spurred by a vision to return to Tatooine. Visions within visions leading him down yet another path that the Force had chosen for him.

Mara looked up at the ceiling. The hut was shaking beneath the force of the wind but it would not fall. They would be safe here until the storm had passed. "Luke, the storm is getting stronger."

"It's not far," he insisted. There was a fierce brightness in his eyes that she was intimately familiar with. There was no talking him out of this.

Mara stepped away from him and started pulling on her clothes, "Just across the Jundland Waste and through Beggar's Canyon in the middle of a sandstorm?" She looked him to meet his gaze almost defiantly and found him smiling happily at her.

"Mara!" He exclaimed, "You have been paying attention to my stories!"

She rolled her eyes but smiled at his obvious delight, "I'm kind of stuck here with you, Skywalker. There's no one else to talk to."

Luke pouted and an expression of mock hurt crossed his face. Mara stepped closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. "You forget that I came to Tatooine to kill you years ago, Skywalker. I had to learn the landscape."

Luke colored slightly and his face fell. Mara shook her head and let out a long sigh. "Can you at least tell me why we are going?"

He frowned at the question and bit his lip, "My father came back to Tatooine to save his mother's life," his eyes grew dark as he remembered the last part of the vision. "My grandmother died here on Tatooine. Her grave is at my old home." There was a depth of sadness in his voice now that Mara knew well.

"I never knew my grandmother, never knew who lay in the grave behind my old farm. My father buried her there. He hated that he did not have the power to save her." Luke seemed lost suddenly, his gaze fixed on something in the distance beyond Mara. "I watched her die," he whispered. "Watched my father weep over her body. I wanted to reach out, reach back in time and save her but I couldn't. Neither of us could." He sighed then and his gaze returned to her.

"There are four graves behind that farm now. My grandmother and her husband and my aunt and uncle. They all died here, all buried in the sand."

Mara bit her lip as she stepped closer to Luke and laid one hand on his chest. His heart pulsed steadily beneath her palm and she cherished the resonance. He wrapped his arms around her, drawing strength from her warmth and waited for her response.

Mara sighed softly and relented. It was crazy to do this but then most days with Luke Skywalker always retained a level of insanity. "Okay we can go, but you'll have to wait to pay your respects until after the storm has died out."

"Come on, the farm is deserted now. We can take shelter inside," his blue eyes twinkled suddenly. "I'll show you my old bedroom."

Mara's laughter reverberated through the hut, almost drowning the roar of the wind outside. "Skywalker, you are too much," she shook her head and wrapped her scarf around her face. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the sand."

-

Coming in chapter four. The plot begins to reveal itself. :evil sith laughter:

please let me know what you think


	4. The Eye of the Storm

-

Chapter Four:

The Eye of the Storm

-

Luke opened the door of Obi-Wan's old home to greet the desert come to life around them. The wind swept across the sand in opposing directions, stirring up impossible whirlwinds. Luke reached out and grabbed Mara's hand, drawing him close to her. As well trained as she had been to deal with this atmosphere, he was the one who had lived through it for eighteen years. He could see the fury of the storm as it drew closer to them but he knew it had not yet hit its peak. They still had a few hours yet, plenty of time to reach his old home and the shelter it provided. If he timed it right, he could pass right through the storm without coming to any harm.

Luke Skywalker felt no fear at walking out into the middle of a sandstorm. Though it was something that he had been taught from a young age never to do. The sandstorms used to mean certain death to anyone who willingly went out into it. Yet there was something about this storm that felt different to Luke. The winds that whipped past his body also flowed through his mind in the Force. The sandstorm itself was natural, spun up out of the ground like a thousand Luke had seen before. It echoed in the Force, whirling through him. Sand smoothing the rough edges, and uncovering the darkest corners.

_"It may seem bad right now," _Luke spoke to Mara through their Force bond, his voice echoing through her head. It was easier than screaming at each other over the sound of the roaring winds. _"But it will get a lot worse in a few hours. We have just enough time to make it to the homestead before the storm hits."_

_"That sounds like a big risk to me, Skywalker. You're sure your luck is that good?"_ Mara spoke back to him through the mental connection. She was not scared, but she was wary. He knew she could feel the whirling of the Force as well, but she said nothing.

Mara could feel his smile more than she could see it directed at her through the heavy cloth that covered his face. _"Don't forget who you're talking to, Mara. I have walked through the storms before and come out unhurt. Trust me."_ It was those last two words that did it. Mara trusted him with her life, her heart, her soul. He had never led her astray. Fixing her goggles firmly over her eyes, she followed her lover out into the whirling sands.

The world seemed to vanish around her instantly, the sand was beating against her entire body through the fabric of her suit. The wind threatened to knock her off her feet but she kept them planted firmly within the shifting sands. The desert was no more than a blur of white sand. Without Luke's hand to guide her through the storm, Mara would have lost her way instantly.

_'Relax,'_ Luke's voice flowed into her mind through their bond. _'Close your eyes and trust in the Force. It will lead you through the storm.'_

The warmth of his voice soothed her fraying nerves and Mara steadied herself. She let Luke's words sink into her mind as she closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. It flowed through her, like water through the sand and illuminated everything before her. Luke's presence shone brightly before like a beacon in darkness. He kept his grip on her hand tightly and led her through the sandstorm.

At last they found their speeder, hidden in an alcove of rock off to the side of Obi-Wan's homestead. Luke climbed into it and Mara followed, taking the co-pilot's seat for once without complaint. This was one of the few cases where she was sure that Luke was the better pilot.

_'Hang on tight,' _Luke told her. She increased the pressure on his hand and caught the flash of a grin from him beneath his coverings.

_'Not to me, Mara, I need both hands to steer.' _His amusement trickled through the bond and she released his hand. The lack of physical connection between them did nothing to lessen the bond, but Mara preferred his hand in hers. Buckling herself into the speeder, she gripped the handles on each edge of her seat.

_"Let's go, Flyboy.' _He caught the twinkle of mirth in her green eyes and didn't respond. Instead he opened the throttle and the next thing either of them knew, they were speeding through the sandstorm.

If the wind had been loud before, it was positively deafening now. It roared past Mara's ears with a shriek reminiscent of a Krayt dragon she had seen once. The sand beat against her so hard that it penetrated her clothing and within moments she was itching all over her flesh where the coarse grains rubbed her raw. She could barely breathe at the speed they were going, choking on a mouthful of sand every time she inhaled.

Despite how uncomfortable the ride was, Mara could not help but be exhilarated by the speed at which Luke raced them over the sea of sand. He really was an amazing pilot, it was good to admire his skill openly. Nothing she had ever seen him do had compared to this. Luke could fly anything, from his X-Wing to the Jade's Fire or a Star Cruiser, with equal ease. Yet here on Tatooine, flying over the dunes in his sky hopper, he seemed to be most in his element. This was how he had learned to fly, chasing the long shadows of the twin suns over the Dune sea. Speeding so fast he could hardly breathe and learning how to trust his instincts. It had been that first tickling of the Force was what had helped shape him into the amazing pilot that he was today.

Mara knew this, but she also knew how reckless he could sometimes be. She should not have been surprised when she looked over and found him flying with his eyes shut but she gave a start nonetheless. A chill prickled her skin as she watched him. So deeply immersed in the Force as he was, his piloting seemed almost automatic. Instead of the fierce joy of flight that she had expected to see in his face, he was utterly calm as if in a Jedi trance.

Mara focused closer on him and had to fight the urge to take the controls from his hands. He _was_ in a Jedi trance! He had no conscious awareness of what he was doing, he was merely following the path that the Force was clearing for him. He could see it stretching out before him, parting the whirlwinds and letting them pass through unharmed. Mara watched him warily, while struggling to also watch the landscape around them for any abrupt change that Luke might not see. Yet she knew that they were safe, he knew what he was doing.

So Mara sank back into her seat and let the wind roar past her, let the Force rush through her. Every moment seemed to bring them closer to something momentous, a massive change in their lives that they could not predict, nor could they stop. She wondered at what it could be. Wondered at what else Luke might have seen.

She let out a deep sigh and focused on the world around her. She could feel the Force flowing through her, it seemed to roar like the wind in the strength of its power. The Force rushed through her mind, filling her to the brim. The wind was white with sand, and in the flickering of the grains over her vision, she could see images through the Force.

-

In an instant, the world had changed.

The wind had died to a soft breeze as it flowed down over gently sloping hills. The hills were covered in a green so verdant it seemed to glow with life. Lush grass covered the land and through the trees in the distance, she could see a river glittering as it splashed against the sand. The ground did not soak up the moisture hungrily with its parched mouth, but embraced it.

Mara knelt in the soft grass and dug her fingers into the soil. The silt was rich and dark with moisture. It was soothing to her hands after the rough sands of the desert. Looking up into the sky, she realized that this must still be Tatooine. The twin suns hung in the sky but something was different about them. They seemed to be further away than she remembered, the heat was not as intense, the light was not as blinding. She could see that the planet had once thrived safely beneath the two suns and over the course of a millennia, Tatooine had been drawn ever closer.

The revelation of this in Mara's mind was astonishing to her, it was something that she had never considered. Tatooine had always been a desert waste, and she saw suddenly that some of the desert had already begun to form. Behind her, the grass faded away into rocky ground that eventually had eroded down into sand. Yet it was not the familiar sight of the sand that startled her so much, it was what lay upon it.

In the distance, there lay a temple of glass. It glittered against the horizon with a thousand glittering points of light. Each facet of the glass caught the light and seemed to hold it within until the temple itself glowed with power. Mara was suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of power that flowed through the Force. It seemed to echo in the lands all around her, the wind sighing. A conscious mind suddenly seemed to reach out and touch her and suddenly Mara found herself trembling.

An unknown voice spoke into her mind, filled with power and wisdom. The words she heard were clearer than the glass that had been forged from the sand.

_"In the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior. He shall be known as the Son of the Suns. He will shatter the ancient Order and bring both darkness and light to the Force. Only he shall be able to achieve balance between Light and Dark. Of his blood shall be born the last of the ancient line. He will bring about a new era of the Force by uniting the ancient ways and powerful knowledge. Those that have been Chosen by the Force will be the ones to change it forever."_

Mara knelt upon the ground, clutching the earth desperately as the words resounded through her mind. The power of the Force filled her to the breaking point as the prophecy sank deep into her mind. She looked up desperately to see the temple of glass growing dark before her and her danger sense flared up into a sudden blaze.

The wind began to swirl around her once more and the grass disappeared into sand beneath her fingers as the light exploded over the horizon and the desert returned. The suns drew ever nearer, closer to the planet, transforming it into a desert where battles had been fought and lost. Light and dark became one as the shifting sands emerged across the planet. The temple stood still beneath the sea of time and waited. It was waiting for them.

-

Her eyes opened and in that moment of clarity, Mara Jade looked up the most alien and yet familiar sight she had ever seen. Rising up before them was a mountain unlike anything else on Tatooine. It was not large, but rising up suddenly from the flat land, it seemed to reach the heavens. Dark and ominous against the brown sky, it filled Mara with dread.

Yet it was not the ominous sight of the fortress that struck Mara the most. What shocked her was the palpable crackling of the Force around the building. It was as if this place was a nexus, where the energy of the Force came together into a physical presence before her. The power of the place overwhelmed her and for a long terrible moment, Mara could not move, could not call out to Luke through their bond to warn him.

Finally, as the fortress rose up close enough to blot out all else before them, Mara reached out and grabbed Luke's arm. She screamed his name, aloud, and through their Force bond. His eyes snapped open immediately, narrowed in concern on her. She shook her head and gestured up to the fortress. She was screaming at him but her words were lost in the roar of the wind, the rush of the power that suddenly filled him.

Luke looked up and saw the mountain. As soon as his eyes landed upon it, he knew that this was where the Force had led him. The energy that crackled around the fortress walls seemed to mirrored within his soul. For a long moment, Luke could do nothing but stare up in wonder. His hands tightly gripping the controls seemed to shake suddenly. The wind was too strong, they were drawing close to the heart of the storm. He struggled to keep his grasp, drawing deeply upon the Force to aid him. But the Force seemed to have a mind of its own, it fluctuated wildly around them. The air crackled with heat lightning, it sizzled past his cheek, searing a mark upon his flesh. He cried out and felt Mara reach out to grab hold of him. She wrapped herself around him and in that moment, the storm took over.

The wind howled around them, snatching the speeder in its invisible clutches and spinning it wildly around. The cyclone formed around them, the most massive one they had seen so far. It surrounded the fortress, the wind rising up off of the walls and expanding at the peak of the mountain. The two of them were torn from their seats, clinging desperately to one another. For a long moment, the two of them flew together in the whirling winds. Instinctively, they reached out to one another in the joining of minds that had saved them once before. Mara could feel Luke so clearly, his warmth around her, his desperate struggle with the Force that mirrored her own. It seemed to slither through her grasp, roaring through her like the wind, unable to be controlled.

A shifting of the wind suddenly pushed between them. Luke and Mara were torn apart and desperately, she struggled to hold onto her grip on his hand. There was a darkness in those blue eyes, a moment of panic from Luke in her bond. Then he slipped from her grasp.

He flew on the winds, still reaching out for her desperately until he was lost beyond the veil of the shifting sand. It slipped through her fingertips

She caught nothing but sand and that slipped through her fingertips, ticking away the seconds until death inevitably ensnared her.

The wind was tossing her around and around again, spinning her in its wide circle until she could no longer tell up from down, land from sky. The speeder was gone, having crashed to the ground far below her. That, on its own, would have terrified her but nothing was as bad as the certain knowledge that suddenly crashed in on her.

She could no longer feel Luke through their bond.

With a scream that matched the howling of the wind, Mara howled in anguish, in desperation, and in fear. Opening herself completely to the Force, she let it whip through her like the wind whipped her body until she was bloody and sore. She pulled upon the Force with all of her strength, struggling to manipulate it to her will. She felt the power of the temple below her like a physical presence within the Force and reached out to take hold of its power.

Pushing her power outward, Mara lifted her hands to the sky and the Force poured through her. A bright light shone through her, stretching up from the ground and pouring through her to touch the sky. She brought it all together, connecting heaven to earth, body to spirit and wind to water. She reached down into the depths of her power and felt a sudden stillness in the Force.

In that moment, Mara heard Luke's voice in her mind. '_I raised my hand and the sandstorm stopped. The wind simply ceased.' _

A sudden dread grew in her heart and was confirmed when wind suddenly ceased in it's eternal howling The cyclone vanished, swirling back down into the sands, a soft wind flowing through her before dying completely. For a long moment, Mara Jade floated motionlessly hundreds of meters above the ground of Tatooine. The land was clear for miles, the sand settling back into the constantly shifting sea of the desert.

Mara stared in wonder at the world around her, keeping herself afloat with the Force. When her gaze returned to the sight of the mountain rising up before her, she felt a sinking in her heart. Her concentration wavered and gravity took its toll. Wind swirled up around her, catching her long desert robes. They swirled up above her head suddenly, she was blind to the sight of the ground coming towards her. She fought to escape the cloak that trapped her. It flew from her shoulders and almost escaped her grasp. Her fingers fought the wind as they expertly grasped the corners. The cloak billowed up above her like a parachute but she was falling too fast.

Mara closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of the world rushing toward her and struggled to focus on the grasp she had maintained on the Force. To her relief, it came easily, but it was somehow warped. There was an odd resonance to everything around her. Slowly, she floated to the ground, her eyes searching the world around her for any sign of Luke. Her eyes burned from the sand, her vision blurring before. She hit the ground running, stumbling and falling to her knees. She had never been so happy to feel the ground beneath her. She dug her hands into the sand, ignoring the heat of the baked soil. Mara knelt there for a moment, catching her breath, slowing her heartbeat from its rapid pace. With a weary sigh, she looked up to see what lay before her.

A few yards beyond her lay the wreckage of Luke's speeder. It had cracked into a dozen pieces upon the mountainside. Flames licked the ground from where the engine had exploded and Mara approached it in disgust.

"That's the last time I let you talk me into anything, Luke Skywalker," Mara muttered the curse under breath. There was no passion in it however, she felt sick in the heart where his presence had vanished. She could no longer feel him, she knew he could not hear her cursing at him and laugh at her. Tears burned her eyes, clearing away some of the sand.

Turning away from the destruction of the speeder, Mara drew a deep breath and looked up at the mountain. It flickered in her vision and she saw once more, the temple of glass beneath a millennia of sand and rock that crusted over it. The mountain rose before her, and the temple called to her.

Wind stirred up once more, pushing against her back. It felt as though the Force was flooding through her, washing her forward. Mara lifted her head against the pulsing heat of the suns and walked onward to the mountain of glass.

-

Leia was deep in the midst of hyperspace when she felt it. The shock of the bond snapping so suddenly was like nothing she had ever felt before. It reverberated through the Force from the planet ahead of them. As if something had shifted within the Force itself and stolen him from her.

"Luke," Her eyes opened with a shock and she stared out at the stars streaming endlessly past. She felt an odd sense of dislocation as it seemed that she stood still and the universe rushed past. The reverberations of the Force were coming from that direction, she could feel it pulling her endlessly forward. Waves within the endless sea of the Force crashed through her as she opened herself to it. They shifted around her and Leia cried out at the sudden influx of energy.

She could see the sandstorm whirling in her mind and a temple made out of glass, sparkling upon the endless sands. The light seemed to fill the glass, stretching upwards from the earth to the sky. Luke stood in the center of it all, a glowing form of light and pure energy. She could see him, but she could not feel him through the Force.

Leia's breath left her in rush, the moment frozen in time as Han turned to her in alarm. The vastness of the galaxy suddenly loomed up before her as they pulled out of hyperspace but Leia barely saw. She could still see the afterimage of Luke hovering before her eyes, but the place in her heart where she was bonded to him was empty. A hole swallowing her in its darkness. She did not like it one bit.

"Something is wrong," Leia whispered.

"You're telling me, Princess," Han was fussing with the controls of the ship anxiously. Leia was suddenly aware of the tension in her husband's body and she turned to him. Her alarm grew at the expression on his face.

"Something pulled us out of hyperspace before we reached Tatooine," Han informed her. His gaze was searching the vastness of the stars beyond, searching for the answer.

"We're close," Han muttered. "But this is definitely not Tatooine."

The world that rose up before them seemed to be the opposite of Tatooine. It was a lush world of vivid blue oceans that curled around the land. It glimmered against the view screen like a jewel in space. Something about the sight of the blue waters soothed Leia's troubled mind.

"Where are we?" Leia whispered. Deep in the back of her mind, she felt as though she should know this place. Something in her blood called out to the planet below.

Han frowned as he looked over the readouts, "A planet called Naboo, never heard of it."

"Naboo..." the word seemed to resound in Leia's mind, tugging at some deeply buried memories. "This was Palpatine's homeworld," that was a fact she knew. Yet it was not that which seemed to stir in her mind.

Han eyed the planet uneasily, "Well, Palpatine is dead and gone and the Imperials are scattered to the corners of space. We shouldn't have too much trouble here."

Leia blinked at him, "We're going down?"

Han shifted uneasily, a movement Leia was all too familiar with. "Well..." she knew it was never good when he drew that word out so long. "It seems that there may be a problem with the hyperdrive."

Leia groaned, "I should have known."

Her husband spread his hands, affecting a look of wide eyed innocence that she was far too familiar with. "Hey!" He protested, "It's not my fault!"

She couldn't help but smile, "It's never your fault, Han." Her eyes were troubled behind that smile however and Han could see it.

"Hey," he leaned over and took her hand. "Luke will be okay."

She smiled uneasily at him and shook her head, "I hope so..." her gaze turned out to the distant stars, searching for her twin. "I can't feel his presence any longer through the Force."

Han was deeply troubled by this. He could not know what it was like to be bonded through the Force as Leia was with her brother. But he trusted her and he had seen how their bond had aided them in the past. To hear that their bond had snapped, on the heels of Leia's premonitions of danger, did not bode well.

"We'll get to Tatooine," Han promised. He could not tell her that Luke would be okay again. If he knew the kid, and he did, odds were that he'd find his way out of trouble on his own. Still, it didn't sit right with Han that his friend might be in danger and they were stuck only a few parsecs from where he was.

Leia took a deep breath and nodded at his words. There were tears shimmering in her eyes and Han's heart broke at the sight. Gently he kissed his wife on the cheek and sat back in preparation to land.

"Naboo doesn't seem like a bad place," he mused. "I'll have these repairs done in no time and then we'll be on our way to saving Luke's hide yet again."

Leia smiled faintly at his words but she did not meet his troubled gaze. Her eyes remained fixed on the glimmering stars in the distance. She could just make out the twin suns of Tatooine orbiting the dusty sphere. Luke was somewhere out there, she had to believe that. The snapping of the bond had not felt like death, it had been something else. There were Forces at work here that Leia could not identify, and that knowledge sank her heart like a stone.

With a sigh, Leia leaned back in her chair and watched the galaxy vanish around them as they began their descent into the world of Naboo.

-

Luke Skywalker opened his eyes in darkness. For a moment, he blinked rapidly, unsure of whether or not his eyes were truly open. The darkness around him seemed absolute until his eyes began to adjust and he could make out some light in the shadows.

He was in a large room, the cool floor beneath his hands was smooth and slick. Pushing himself up off the floor, he stood and reached out through the Force. It flowed through him easily but an odd resonance seemed to come from the walls around him. The Force echoed here in this place and once more, Luke sensed the massive power that seemed to lie dormant within the fortress.

As he reached out through the Force, he was made shockingly aware of one simple fact. He could no longer sense Mara through their bond. Luke's heart began to beat faster, fear rising up within him. She had to be okay, he didn't know what he would do if she was not.

Luke reached out through the Force and tried to find Mara's familiar, shining presence but was left fumbling in the dark. Desperately, Luke tried to reach out to Leia, just to sense a loving presence, but she was lost to him as well. The Force flowed through him but his bonds with his loved ones was no longer present. It was as if a thread had been cut, the connections lost. A hollow feeling resounded in his chest and his heart throbbed painfully as if it had been cut open.

He took a deep breath and put the curious issue out of his mind. Something had happened to his bond with Leia and Mara, but that did not mean either one of them was dead. It was a troubling issue but one he forced out of his mind. First he had to figure out what this place was and how to get out. Once he got back into the desert, he would be able to find Mara easily, he was sure of it.

Igniting his lightsaber, Luke used it as a dim light in order to look around him. The room was very large and Luke could see cracks in the ceiling where a slide of rocks had filled in a hole. Luke felt the bruises on his body, the dust in his hair and realized that he must have fallen through that hole before the rocks had crashed through, blocking his escape route.

Luke sighed wearily and studied the ceiling. He could move the rocks out of the way and levitate up and out of the room, but it would take hours to accomplish the task. He shuddered at the thought of Mara wandering through the desert in those precious hours, calling his name. No, he had to find another way out.

His decision made, Luke began to scout the length of the room. His eyes absorbed every detail and was surprised at what he found. The room was massive and in times past, must have been a truly impressive sight. Columns of glittering glass stretched up out of the floor. The floor beneath his feet, Luke saw now, was also made of glass. The walls and ceiling were encrusted with crystals of various shapes and colors. The green light cast from his lightsaber glittered within the crystals. Light sparked off every surface and reflected back upon him. A large torch stood in the center of the room and Luke approached it slowly. Shutting down his lightsaber, Luke dug his tinder out of his pouch at his side and laid the flame to the wick.

Light sprang up all around him as every torch in the room burst into flame. They were connected in some way, to this central torch, and when it was lit so were they all. A fiery golden glow filled the hall now and the effect was astounding.

Luke saw where he was now in the full light of the fire. The hall appeared to be an ancient throne room of sorts, though instead of one chair at the end of the hall, there was a variety of seats all in a circle. In the center of the circle there was a glass pedestal rising out of the floor. It was etched deeply with ancient runes that covered the exterior like vines climbing up the side. The shape of the letters seemed somehow familiar to Luke and he traced them with a careful fingertip.

The pedestal seemed to vibrate beneath his touch and suddenly it was filled with a pure white light. The light seemed to stretch straight up from beneath the ground and up to the surface of the pedestal. For a moment, Luke's vision flickered and he saw a group of men and women seated around the pedestal. In his mind's eye, every seat was filled with beings of assorted races. Each one held an air of wisdom and power and at every side hung a familiar object, a lightsaber.

With a gasp, Luke stumbled back away from the pedestal and the vision vanished from his mind. He knew now what this place was, but was shocked that it existed here on his home world. He had never known of it, Obi-Wan had never spoken of it and no Jedi text he had read had ever hinted at the existence of any ancient Jedi temple located on Tatooine.

Yet here he stood, in the center of an ancient circle where Jedi councils had once convened. This was the reason for the odd resonance he had felt, the power that had coursed through him at the sight of this place. This temple was a stronghold of the Force and there were objects of power hidden here, and history. Luke was sure of it, as sure as he had ever been of anything in his life. The Force had led him home for a reason, it had brought him here. He wondered at how old the temple must be. How long had it been since a Jedi had stood in these halls and looked upon the ancient place of wisdom? He was the first in many years, of that he was certain.

Luke's gaze traveled the hall with a reverence he had never felt before. This was a holy place, he could feel it in his bones. From the main hall there stretched several corridors, all leading down into darkness. The temple was massive, he had seen it from the outside and mistaken it for a mountain rising up out of the desert. If he made the wrong choice, he would wander into the depths of the temple and become hopelessly lost.

Yet as Luke took a step forward, he was filled with a sudden certainty that he would not lose his way. The Force itself seemed to guide every step he took as he entered one the long corridors. Firelight flickered down the long hall and Luke could see no end to it, yet he was sure that this was the way he was meant to go. With a deep breath, he opened himself even more fully to the Force and allowed it to guide his steps through the temple.

The corridor was long and seemingly endless, every now and then it branched off into darkness or ancient doors appeared. Luke opened none of them, he passed them by with equal curiosity but he knew that if he stopped to explore every room of the temple, he might never make it out.

The path he followed seemed to lead ever upwards until at last he reached the end of his voyage. What lay before him then was a sight unlike anything he had ever seen. At the top of the mountain, the uppermost chamber of the temple, was a room made purely of glass. The glass beneath his feet shimmered with opaque and murky colors that seemed to shift beneath his footsteps. Above him the sky yawned great and open beyond the layer of glass the augmented it. The walls were vast windows, looking out into the desert beyond and from the top Luke could see for miles.

In the center of the room there lay a pedestal identical to the one in the council chamber below. But where the pedestal below had been empty, this one held one simple object. It was a book, lying open as if someone had left it behind in the midst of their reading. What was remarkable about it was that it also was made entirely of glass, it was part of the pedestal with glass pages that opened and turned but could never be removed. As Luke took a step toward it, he felt that familiar resonance within the Force once more. The entire building seemed to tremble as he stepped forward and touched the thin pages.

Light bloomed from beneath his fingertips, coming upward from the base of the pedestal. It illuminated the words on the page, written in old and ancient runes. Luke traced his finger over the letters and found that he could understand perfectly what it said.

The first page contained one word, one so familiar to Luke that he gasped aloud in surprise. The word on the page was one he had borne his entire life.

Etched deeply into the glass page, illuminated by the light of the Force was his own name: Skywalker.

-


	5. Ghosts of the Past

-

Chapter Five:

Ghosts of the Past

-

The heat had finally taken its toll on Mara Jade.

She was pushing herself now beyond her limits, her muscles moving thanks only to the power of the Force that flowed through her. Without it, she would have collapsed hours ago. The mountain that had loomed so large before her had proved quite hard to scale. With every step she took, she came closer to the sky and the molten heat of the twin suns. She had stripped away all of her desert garb, down to her pants and undershirt. Sweat clung to her, dragging her hair down from her scalp and plastering it against her sticky flesh. She hated the loss of moisture, knowing that would soon all be baked away and she would be left dehydrated and unclothed in the middle of the desert.

Her mouth felt like it was full of sand, so dry and hot as it was. The mountain that stretched upwards beneath her feet blurred in her eyes. Sometimes she feared it would disappear suddenly beneath her feet, dropping her down into the desert.

At last she collapsed upon the first stretch of clear land that she found. A small plateau stretched out on the side of the mountain and Mara found a dark overhang of rock to duck beneath. She collapsed against the wall, blessing its relative coolness in the sweltering heat. She leaned heavily against the rock and was quite surprised when it fell away from her. It swung open silently on hinges that she had not even noticed.

Sitting up in surprise, Mara realized that her small alcove was really a hidden entrance into the heart of the mountain. The door must have been quite old, she could see the marks of ancient runes that had once been etched upon it. They had faded away beneath the erosion of the sand but their forms still seemed to glow upon the surface within the Force.

With a chill, Mara recognized those markings. They were ancient Sith runes, belonging to a culture and a religion that had all but been eliminated a thousand years ago. She knew them only from her education as the Emperor's Hand. Palpatine had seen it fit to teach her to recognize the runes and stay away from them. It was Vader who had taught Mara to read the language of the runes and recognize the power that lay hidden within them. He had done this without the Emperor's knowledge though it was a knowledge that had never truly served Mara until this moment.

With a flash, her vision resounded in her mind. The temple of glass on that long ago world Sith stood here, beneath the sand that had crusted over it and turned it back into the ground. In that moment, Mara knew that this is where Luke had been led. Only now she wondered which side of the Force had led them here, the light or the dark?

Mara ran her fingers over the runes and the whole door seemed to glow suddenly. It was smooth beneath her palm, not rough like the stone she had thought she was leaning against. She saw now, as the stone crumbled away from the exterior, that the door was made entirely of glass. The runes had been etched into the surface and now they glowed beneath her touch, as if coming alive after a deep sleep.

Mara's heart sank in her chest and she knew with a dreadful certainty that Luke was inside this temple somewhere. As much as she reviled the idea of entering an ancient temple of the Sith, Mara knew that she had to go in and get him. Else he might never leave alive. Who could say what traps the Sith of ancient times had laid here to ensnare any Jedi who stumbled across the site?

Yet her heart knew no other option than to step through the ancient doorway and into the temple. The door of glass swung shut behind her with a resounding thud that seemed to shake the walls around her. The light faded from the door and soon it had seamlessly faded back into the stone exterior, invisible to the naked eye. When the last crack of light had faded, Mara was left alone in the darkness.

She moved forward automatically, feeling her way along the walls, trusting in the Force to guide her forward. Every step forward seemed to draw her ever upwards, into the dark heart of the temple. It was beginning to beat stronger, with every step that Mara took. An ancient power was awakening and responding to their presence.

The feel of stone beneath her fingertips gave way to a smoother substance. Where her fingers trailed along the slick surface, Mara could feel a reverberation of warmth from the wall. The resonance had been odd to her before, an echo in the force, a shifting of the tide. This was familiar to her, like a brush across her senses when Luke reached out to touch her.

"Luke," she whispered his name softly and it echoed down the long hall, her voice changing and shifting to sound like a chorus. Mara began to run down the long corridor, calling out for her partner. "Luke! Where are you?" Her voice echoed back to her, its call wild and desperate. "Where are you?" It spoke back to her, asking her the question in return. Mara found that she did not know the answer.

She gripped her lightsaber, finger hovering over the switch that would provide her with some weak light. At that moment the walls flickered around her, as if reacting to her thoughts. It slowly began to seep into the corridor, the burning glow of fire seemed to emanate from the walls of glass.

Mara stepped closer to the wall and could see herself reflected there, her reflection was wreathed in flame. The light danced wildly in the corridor, the shadows touched everything. She was pale and tired but her hair danced around her like flame, green eyes burned with purpose. She watched her reflection reach out to touch the glass, the flames danced within the glass itself but no heat came from it.

Mara leaned her forehead against the glass and reached out into the Force. The levels of the temple seemed to resound above her, stretching up forever from the depths of the sand to touch the sky far above her. The entire temple was made of glass, it glowed with the power of the Force that had shaped it into being. Mara could feel it in the in her mind as if it were alive. She felt as though she could reach into it, discover what memories it held and what secrets had been kept.

"Luke," she whispered his name as she drew away from the glass. She would not let the temptations of the temple draw her in. She couldn't. She had to find Luke. Her feet began to run and Mara followed. She had to keep going.

The flames seemed to pulse all around her, flickering higher until she seemed to run through a hall of fire. The fire did not touch her, enclosed within the glass as it was. At last she saw the end of the tunnel and beyond, a darkness too great and terrible to imagine.

The light seemed to follow her into the room as she walked headlong into darkness. All at once it blazed up around her, revealing what had lain hidden beneath the sands for so long.

In the center of the room a great crystal jutted up from the glass. It reached up to touch the glass ceiling far above. Mara approached it cautiously as the Force thrummed around her. A strange light was flickering in it's depths, not the warm glow of the firelight but the cool blue light of the Force.

Mara leaned closer, reaching out one hand to hover above the crystal. It seemed to be calling her name, a soft whisper that resounded through her mind. Mara... the voice of the Force sounded like Luke. She laid her palm upon the crystal and the light bloomed all around her. It flared through her mind and all at once, the visions swept her away.

One name resounded in her mind as she fell from the darkness into light. Not her own name that had been called so softly. It was the name she had yet to take on.

Skywalker.

-

Skywalker.

The light enveloped Luke, embracing him. It had been waiting for him, he could feel it in his bones that this was where he was meant to be. The Force rushed through him in a torrent of energy, a wellspring of life hidden deep beneath the ground. Luke could feel it, calling out to him. It was like a great pool, buried beneath the earth and it was mirrored in the empty sky above him. In the depths of its waters, he could see his own name rising. Skywalker. The pool became the sky and his name was a cloud gathering on the horizon.

The history of time stretched out beyond him, lives glittering like the endless stars of the galaxy. Some burned brighter than the others within the Force, like whirlpools in the sea of the Force that pulled the energy to them in waves. He could see all the way back to the beginning, the birth of this temple and time itself.

It came to him in a great rush of energy, filling him until he thought his skin would break open and allow the luminous light within to pour forth. An ancient prophecy resounded in his mind, the voice ancient yet familiar. Through the Force he felt a familiar flicker of life emerge in his consciousness. Then he recognized it, the one who spoke the prophecy within his mind was Mara.

"_In the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior. He shall be known as the Son of the Suns. He will shatter the ancient Order and bring both darkness and light to the Force. Only he shall be able to achieve balance between Light and Dark. Of his blood shall be born the last of the ancient line. He will bring about a new era of the Force by uniting the ancient ways and powerful knowledge. Those that have been Chosen by the Force will be the ones to change it forever."_

Her voice, so beloved to him, spoke these ancient words within the Force. The knowledge seeped into his mind, like sand into water until it had all been absorbed. It filled him until he couldn't take it anymore. A broken cry spilled from his lips as he wrenched himself away from the book.

Luke stumbled back away from the pedestal, away from the book of light that spoke of his coming in ancient runes. His head pounded as his mind whirled beneath the visions that swirled in his head. Desperately he tried to slow them, calm his mind as he had become so accustomed to doing. It was to no avail, he fell backwards, stumbling over his own feet. A pair of strong arms caught him before he could hit the floor. Opening his eyes, Luke Skywalker found himself looking up into the face of his father.

Anakin knelt, cradling his son in his arms as he had never had a chance to do in life. Luke felt comfort in that embrace, and the deep love of his father that had washed over him in those final moments aboard the Death Star. The memory of that love had never left him and now once more, he could feel his father's strong presence in the Force.

"Father," Luke gasped for breath as he grasped Anakin's hand. It was solid and warm to the touch and it eased his mind slightly.

"Luke," his voice was deep and youthful, as was his appearance. This was the Anakin whom Luke had glimpsed in his dreams.

"I had hoped that the curse of visions would never haunt you, my son," there was a deep sorrow in his words that Luke could feel physically. The younger Skywalker struggled to sit upright, but he kept his hand clasped over that of his father.

"Are they true visions?" Luke whispered, the assault of images on his mind had faded beneath the touch of Anakin's hand but they remained fresh in his memory. He scrubbed one hand over his face wearily and fixed his gaze on his father's blue eyes. They were identical to his own, he had always known that but never really seen it until now. The eyes of a Skywalker.

The blue blazed at him now with a fierce light as Anakin looked down on his son. "My visions of the future were always true. It was my constantly trying to change them that is actually what caused them to occur," he sighed, a soft breath of wind in the Force.

"What you saw though, they were visions of the past. They are important to remember however, because they are of the utmost importance to your future." The light seemed to glow brighter out of the corner of Luke's eye. Anakin brightened with it, strengthened by its power.

"Did you know?" Luke asked, "Did you know the prophecy?"

Anakin's face darkened and he looked away, "The prophecy was the very thing I was always trying to prove to the Jedi. They were the ones that told me I had been chosen but even they had lost the origins of the prophecy. I never knew the history of it because they could not tell me." A sad smile crossed his father's face.

"The Hero without Fear is what they used to call me. Yet we always fear what we do not understand. There was so much that I didn't understand, Luke." He seemed to grow much younger as Luke watched. The age faded from him until he stood younger than his own son. Waves of gold crowned his face and the scar that slanted over one eye seemed to enhance the brightness of his eyes. This was the man he had been before the darkness had taken over.

"You proved it to me," Luke sat up straight and faced his father. "You fulfilled the prophecy in the end. You were the Chosen One." Son of the suns... the words echoed in his mind. Mara's voice whispering ancient riddles rattled his mind.

Anakin smiled gently at him, "Yes, I was. I know now everything that I never knew in life. Not until I had returned to the Light and become one with the Force did I know. Obi-Wan showed me this place and what lay hidden here." Anakin's eyes swept over the land beyond the glass walls and then downwards, as if gazing into the depths of the temple.

"Obi-Wan knew?" Luke was not surprised but this was one hint he would have liked to have had. "He never told me."

"There were many things that Obi-Wan knew and never told you," Anakin's eyes twinkled slightly, without a hint of malice as he smiled. "Obi-Wan always sought to protect you as he felt he had failed to protect me," there was a slight sigh at the the end of this statement. Anakin spoke of Obi-Wan as he would speak of a brother or a father. The relationship constantly shifted but the love was always there.

Luke couldn't help the words that rose to his lips then, "Yes Obi-Wan has always protected me. Yet he could have told me some things, like about my sister," Leia, the lack of her presence in the Force ached like an open wound. Yet there was another wound that had never healed. Luke swallowed hard and spoke the name lingering in his heart. "Or about my mother. He knew Padmé."

Anakin stopped in his tracks, his back turned to Luke. He stood before the light beyond the window, a dark blue silhouette of a man. Hands clasped behind his back, head down. He had stood the same way in Luke's vision, when his mother had approached him.

"Padmé..." It was a whisper filled with such emotion that Luke was sure if Anakin had said it any louder it would have overwhelmed him. The love that filled Anakin seemed to glow brighter than the sunlight and he was no longer a silhouette but the one casting the shadows. Luke walked to his father's side and placed one hand against the clear glass. He waited in silence for the ghost to speak.

"Padmé was my heart, Luke. She and I had a bond that had nothing to do with the Force. Yet I let myself fall into darkness and all the while I told myself that I was doing it for her. I wanted to protect her, she was pregnant with my child and all I saw was death." His voice cracked on the last word and Anakin's face fell. Luke felt the old wound of his mother's absence like a hole in his own heart.

"You loved her," Luke whispered.

Anakin closed his eyes, "I still do, Luke. I would have done anything for her, even give away my own soul. Which is exactly what I did in the end. I failed on so many levels, Luke. Yet all of my destruction has finally come to its inevitable rebuilding. At least you have had the chance to start anew." Anakin turned his face to the window again and gazed out into the open sand.

"You have to understand that no matter what comes to you in life, you are still human. It is your job to restore the Jedi Order and it is your destiny to bring about a new era of the Force. What brought you to this temple is the part of the prophecy that you were born to fulfill, Luke. You have read it, you may have even seen it, but I assure you that you cannot begin to understand it or try to change it.

Luke faced his father and did not flinch beneath his words. His blue eyes blazed just as fiercely as his father as they gazed at one another. At last, Luke spoke; "What must I do?"

Anakin smiled as he looked at his son, "That's simple. You have to wake up."

Luke blinked in confusion and suddenly his father's image flickered before him. "Father!" He reached out for him.

"Luke!" It was not Anakin's voice calling out to him, it was another. Beloved and familiar and so close while so far away.

"Skywalker, wake up!"

-


	6. Visions Across Time

-

Chapter Six:

Visions Across Time

-

Deep in the heart of the Force, Mara floated endlessly. The crystal seemed to reach out and pull her into the depths. She swirled in a darkness that clawed at her mind with hungry fingers. The darkness was broken suddenly by the light of the Force and with it came the visions.

The crystal showed her many things through the Force. Past, present, future. Every thread of destiny that had weaved it's way into this endless pattern. Mara saw it all so clearly from within the crystal shard.

She felt her body dissolving beneath the weight of the Force. It seemed to sweep her away upon a tidal wave. She left the room of the crystal and traveled upwards, reaching for the sky.

The vision bloomed in her mind

A book of glass carved upon a pedestal. Ancient words etched upon the surface.

Luke stood before the book, a shining light that warmed Mara's soul instantly. She felt him close to her, so close she could reach out touch him. Then the light burned his features from her mind and the image shifted into someone else.

Another man stood before the book, his gaze fixed intently upon it. He seemed familiar to Mara's mind, teased at the memories that she held that were not her own. He was someone out of Luke's memories, yet younger than Luke had known him... Who?

"You're a fool, Obi-Wan Kenobi..." the man of her vision whispered to himself. Mara's question was answered. with a sudden deep understanding

Mara watched as he reached out and held his hand over the book. A single word blazed up with light, reflecting all around Obi-Wan's cloaked form.

"Skywalker," it was a sigh from the Jedi's lips that was echoed within the Force. An anguished twist on a beloved name.

Obi-Wan drew his hands away from the book and folded them beneath his robes. Mara's vision flickered and she saw the image of a child in his arms. He walked up to the desert homestead and placed a baby in a woman's arms. With a wordless sigh, he turned and walked away from the twin suns.

Obi-Wan Kenobi drove away from the newborn Luke and wandered alone into the desert, searching for a true vision. What was meant to become of the child? How could he help him? He had to find some answers.

Obi-Wan was weary. Mara could feel it as if she were in his head, feeling these things through him. His heart was still heavy with the loss of Anakin. His most beloved friend had betrayed him in the most vicious way possible. And now Obi-Wan had exiled himself here to watch over the son of Skywalker.

Skywalkers haunted him, the name meaning so much in his mind. Apprentice, friend, brother, son and savior. Any hope for the future rested on two small children, Anakin's children.

He flew blindly into the desert, chased the suns as they threatened to fall below the horizon. The shifting of the sands echoed the waves of the Force that reached out to beckon Obi-Wan onward. He flew deep into the vastness of the sea of the Force, unafraid of what he might find. He wandered for hours, a silent, cloaked figure flying over the endless wastes.

The first sight of the temple came at twilight. He saw the gleam of the twin suns off of something in the distance. His vision blurred and he saw the darkness of the mountain suddenly looming up before him. He was caught in its shadow as it drew him in. The mountain was unlike any he had ever seen before.

The waves of the Force that had drawn him this far were coming from this place. As he looked up at the temple, he found himself looking out over the vast length of time this place had stood in silence. The mountain shifted from its dark shape above him. For a moment he could see through it, the setting suns glinted off the clear glass. From within, the light of the Force shone out brightly. It was calling to him, waiting for him to come.

The desert was silent for miles around, no wind stirred the depths of the sand, no life to be felt anywhere. Yet something drew him onward, some pulse of life within the Force that called out to him. Shadows lengthened across the sand, his own stretched beyond him and before there was only light.

In his darkest moments of despair, Obi-Wan had known he would never live to see the Jedi Order restored. But he was going to do all he could to protect the only hope for the future. The only hope of seeing the balance restored lay sleeping in his cradle miles away from where he stood.

Yet as he stood before the temple now, he understood that the Force had brought him here for a reason. There were so many places Obi-Wan could have chosen to hide Luke, he had certainly considered it. He had thought about taking both Luke and Leia far away and raising them as his own. He loved them both as if they were his own because they were all he had left of two of his dearest friends. Anakin and Padmé were both gone now. All of the Jedi were gone save for Master Yoda. He was the only Jedi Obi-Wan knew still lived.

Two Jedi and two Sith. Two children who were the only hope.

Obi-Wan walked from beyond the heat of the two suns into the darkness of the temple. The door glowed in his vision, alight to him even from within the dark rock that had formed over the glass.

The runes etched upon the glass door pulsed as if alive within the Force. He recognized the ancient Jedi runes, symbolizing the elements of life.

A quiet sense of awe filled him as he realized his was the first foot to step within the temple in thousands of years. Those symbols hadn't been used in over a millennia.

The path through the temple was the same Mara would take decades from that moment. Obi-Wan walked blindly into the darkness, trusting his feet to follow in the path the Force had set for him. He followed the darkened glass walls into the room with the crystal.

Through the crystal shard, Obi-Wan saw many things. The past, the present. The memories swirled around him.

Anakin as a young boy with sand in his hair and innocence in his heart. He had wanted to free the slaves. That memory broke Obi-Wan's heart all over again.

He had been so many things, the apprentice who had followed Obi-Wan so faithfully in everything he did. The son who had come to him when he was sad or afraid as a child. He had loved Obi-Wan, the only father he had ever known. Until the time came when that relationship shifted into the camaraderie of brothers, equals. Without Obi-Wan's guidance, or perhaps despite it, Anakin had fallen.

It had not been the darkness of the war that had twisted Anakin's heart. He had always had too much love in him, for Obi-Wan, and for Padmé. It had been fear, and resentment that had eaten him alive.

That bitter pill of prophecy had been hard to swallow at such a young age. He had always hungered for more power because he had always been told that it would be his. The prophecy had been a burden too heavy for his shoulders. The prophecy that had filtered down through the millennia until it had become akin to myth.

The Jedi had never forgotten the essence of the prophecy, but the texts had been lost for over a millennia. The Journal of the Whills, the legendary book of light, had never been found. Obi-Wan had no idea how close he stood to it at that moment.

Crystal light flashed in response to his thoughts. His visions of Anakin shifted, the image of his friend fading from his mind back into the depths of the crystal. He saw his own reflection reflected for a moment until it melted away and reflected instead, his first glimpse of the future.

He looked into the jade green eyes of the woman who would be the next to stand in this place and look into the crystal. She was studying him intently, aglow with the Force as she focused all of her energy on what she was seeing.

There was something familiar about those eyes, as she looked into him. He felt her presence as if she were inside his mind, aware of his every thought. He caught flickers of emotion, and a name that seemed to resonate from her within the Force. Skywalker. She was not one, not by blood anyway, but she was intimately familiar with the name.

With a flash of insight, he saw a face in her mind that was almost familiar to him. The face of a man who resembled Anakin far too much to be anyone but Luke as a man, far into the future.

This woman would have an important role in Luke's future. Obi-Wan understood it at that moment as the baby Skywalker slept across the desert. This glimpse of the future brought Obi-Wan some comfort. Luke would not be alone, whatever he might have to face. Someday he would have a partner who would complete him better than anyone. He knew it with a deep certainty and peace that only the Force could bring.

Luke would start over and the Jedi Order would not be restored, it would be reborn. These two would change everything.

Mara saw him standing before the crystal as she herself stood now. She saw him in that glittering surface over the course of many years that separated them. Their visions united them, and they looked upon the other through the communion of the crystal.

He saw how she had also been destined to play a role in the unfolding of prophecy. She saw how Obi-Wan himself had played the role of father and brother to Anakin. As guardian and guide to Luke. Mara had her role yet to play as well, one that would change the entire idea of the Jedi Order.

All these thoughts flowed from Obi-Wan's mind to her own as Mara looked deep into the crystal. The years that separated them meant nothing to the Force. They stood still in the waters of time, looking past the horizon to see the other.

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak and the words the echoed from him to her ears echoed from her in his vision. They were the conduit through which the voice of the Force spoke.

Shapers of the Force. Chosen blood. Son of suns and daughter of moons. The stars will fall from the sky and bring life back to the ground.

The words made no sense to Obi-Wan's mind as he first looked into the crystal. There was confusion in Mara's face as well but it vanished as soon as it had come. They looked at one another through the veil of time, silent understanding mirrored in blue and green eyes.

Then the image faded and each snapped back to themselves, in their respective places in time. Mara pulled away from the crystal...

And found herself stumbling back into a room filled with light. She was in a chamber much higher up in the temple, as evidenced by the impressive view that spread beyond the clear glass walls.

She found herself stumbling into the glass, catching her breath as she impacted against the solid surface. Beyond she could see the desert slowly cycling into twilight as the suns lowered in the sky. She leaned her head against the cool glass and tried to overcome the wave of dizziness that had spread through her.

A whisper in the back of her mind suddenly caught her attention and Mara frowned as she focused on it. A murmur of a presence that she knew all too well and loved fiercely. Struggling to hold onto that thread, Mara swung around to look at the room behind her.

She was somehow not surprised to see the book of glass in the pedestal. The crystal had shown her this first and in the end, brought her directly here. Her mind was flooded with warmth at the sight of Luke. His face, illuminated by the light that poured from the book and through his body. His eyes were shut tight but she could see the flicker of movement that indicated he was deep within a cycle of vision.

She reached out to touch him, fingertips landing on warm flesh and she sighed in relief. He shuddered beneath her touch and his hands flew away from the book of glass. The light grew ever brighter, blazing through the room and spreading out in shock waves over the desert. The impact of the Force struck Mara like a wave of cold water, it washed over her. With it swirled a thousand images that she could scarcely comprehend. Anakin, Padmé, and the familiar echo of prophecy that Mara knew.

Luke's body was pushed from the book, as if a sudden magnetism had repelled him abruptly. He flew back across the room and Mara moved quickly to catch hold of him before he struck the floor.

"Luke!" Mara gasped his name as she laid her hands upon his head. The warmth of his presence flooded through her and she pushed her mind hungrily into his.

His thoughts were a swirl of color and emotion. Flickers of his mother's face, hung in his mind beneath the the image of his father. Anakin was speaking to him, eyes dark as the ocean as he focused upon his son. A whisper of prophecy.

'Son of the suns..."

Mara sighed and closed her eyes, "Skywalker, wake up," mentally she pushed their long-standing words to awake from the trance. 'I love you.'

Luke opened his eyes to full consciousness. The bright light had faded, the suns were low in the far sky and his father was gone. All of this flickered through his head before a familiar face leaned over him. He was suddenly very aware of Mara kneeling beside him, cradling his head in her lap. Her presence flooded through him suddenly, coming back to life in his mind where their bond had slept beneath the weight of the Force for hours.

"Mara!" He was up off the floor instantly, twisting around to grip her in a tight embrace. She was utterly calm as he gripped her, still in his arms for a moment. He wrapped himself around her, the familiar length of her body fitting perfectly into his.

She sighed beneath his touch and with that breath came her arms snaking around him. She clutched him so hard that he was sure there would be bruises but he didn't care. Her darkened eyes stared into him in an eerie way. Of course she could see into his mind but he had never been so aware of it until it was gone.

He leaned his forehead against hers, allowing the natural exchange of energy between their minds. The reawakening of the bond was intense, almost as much as the first time. Mara's breath caught at the memory of that dark cave. She could never have found her way out of the darkness without the light of Luke Skywalker.

"I thought I'd lost you," Mara admitted. She had convinced herself that he was fine but the fear had still eaten away at her heart. She tightened her arms around his back and curled around him protectively.

Luke smiled at the gesture, unexpected tears burning his eyes. "You'll never be rid of me, Mara," he kissed her forehead as he spoke. Fingers curled in red curls so caked with sand that they seemed brown. He frowned at this and brushed the dirt off her face.

"How did you find me?" Luke asked, he searched her green eyes as they seemed to grow focused on something beyond him.

"The Force led me here," Mara whispered. "I found a door covered with ancient runes. They glowed with power, they drew me here. Just as they once drew Obi-Wan..." Mara's eyes closed, recalling a vision unknown to Luke. Yet she gripped his hand and opened her mind willingly to share the images with him.

"Obi-Wan," Luke murmured. "Of course..."

"I saw him through the crystal," Mara murmured dreamily. "I saw you for just a moment, when you were just newborn and brought to this place. Obi-Wan returned to Tatooine for reasons he thought logical and cunning. Yet the Force was what led him here, as it has led us to this very moment."

Luke stared at her, the images of Obi-Wan flickered through his mind. They flickered oddly, reflecting upon the surface of the crystal. The crystal glowed with the same power as the book of glass. They were linked in some odd way that Luke did not understand. Yet the crystal had the power to move Mara from one place to another within the Force. That was something Luke had never heard of before.

'Uniting the ancient ways and powerful knowledge,' The words drifted through his mind, pulsing silently as they sank into him. They fluttered strangely within his blood, reverberating throughout his flesh. Mara felt him tremble beneath her fingertips and she opened her eyes to look into his.

"You saw your father," Mara whispered. She was not surprised to recognize the face that had come to the surface of Luke's thoughts. He nodded vaguely without breaking his gaze.

"He spoke to me... about the prophecy." The word cast a shadow over the fierce light in his eyes.

"Son of the suns," Mara breathed. Luke's eyes widened as she spoke and she forestalled the next question.

"I didn't pick that one out of your mind, Luke." Mara turned her gaze away to look out past the shimmering glass walls. The desert stretching beyond was utterly still and silent, yet it seemed to breathe with anticipation.

"Just before the storm hit us, I had a vision. A temple of glass on a world that had not yet become sand. There were trees and grass and a river flowing wide." She moved restlessly from his embrace to stand and look out over the desert.

Luke followed, his grasp on her hand tight. For a moment he saw his father standing before the glass, light spreading out forever. Yet now, all the land beyond was cloaked in darkness. Day had faded into night and even the light of the Force had dimmed to a soft glow within the book of glass.

Luke wrapped his arms around Mara from behind and kissed the curve of her neck. She sighed softly and leaned into him. "I never stopped to think about what Tatooine might have been. I have always known it as a desert."

Mara nodded, "This temple was forged from the sands of a beach on the shore of the sea." She looked out into the distance, seeing the vision again in her mind. The temple had soared upward out of the sand and beyond what she thought had been more desert was something else entirely.

"In my vision, all I could see was the temple but I remember now that beyond it there was water." Mara touched a hand to the glass and touched upon the point where the dark sky blurred into ground.

"It blurred into the blue of the horizon and the only thing for miles was this place. It was not always covered by sand and stone as it is now." Save for this chamber, where light had always flowed. No rock had covered this point, not yet.

"When I looked upon it, looked through it to the horizon, I heard the words of prophecy resounding. And through the crystal, I heard yet more" Her mouth twisted suddenly on the words and a look of exasperation crossed her face.

"I don't know what to make of it, Luke. It makes no sense to me."

"No..." Luke's voice was muffled by her hair and she shifted slightly to look at him. He was staring into the horizon, into the vast depths of shadow that seemed to reflect within blue eyes. He seemed to be searching the stars for something beyond his grasp.

"I don't know if I understand it," he whispered. "My father certainly never did but then he never truly knew what it meant to be the Chosen One." Luke's eyes clouded, "He struggled all his life to find how to fulfill the prophecy and prove himself to the Jedi. Only to fulfill it at the very last." He closed his eyes and from his mind, Mara could see sense the flickers of memory.

The memory of that unbearable pain, Palpatine's lightning in Luke's flesh, caused a shudder in Mara. She knew that pain all too well, having been punished in such a way in the few rare times she had failed him.

Shadows of Luke's desperation at that moment still touched the images. As he pleaded with the father lost to him beneath the black mask. The sight of Vader rising up and stumbling forward to cast his master into the abyss. As the light flared up around them, it burst aflame within the Force as well. Light returned to darkness and a prophecy had been fulfilled.

Yet that had only been the beginning. Luke was beginning to understand now. The truth was coming to light. The only way for the Jedi to survive had been for them to die. He shivered at the thought and yet knew it to be the truth. Obi-Wan must have seen this, and Yoda... They had to have known.

Their Order had begun to fail and Anakin had wiped the slate clean while twisted by the shadow. Only the elimination of the old ways had allowed any change within the Order. Luke was one who had brought this change, without even knowing it.

"I came here searching for answers, Mara..." Luke's voice was a sigh on her flesh. His arms tightened around her waist and pulled her in closer . "And it seems that I got more than I bargained for." A ghost of a smile pressed against her forehead from his lips.

Mara shook her head, "I think that to find the right answers, we need only to ask the right questions."

Luke considered her words silently, settling his chin on her shoulder and staring out once more into the distance. "I have so many questions, I don't even know where to begin, Mara. What must I do?"

The question hung in the air before them, each of them wondering at the answer.

-

Naboo was a lush world, Leia could not help but marvel at the sight of it. Something in the Force seemed to speak to her from deep within her own blood. She was connected to this world, she could feel it. Every waterfall that came into view reminded her painfully of her own homeworld. Alderaan was gone forever, she had never had another true home.

Han's hand on her back brought her back to reality. The sight of the vast green hills and lakes were dizzying to her wondering eyes.

"I know this place," Leia whispered. It was true, something about the sight of the lake country they descended into struck a familiar chord in her mind. A memory that was not quite her own but remembered all the same.

Han looked over at her from the pilot's seat and measured her carefully. There was a distant look to her gaze that he had only associated before with Jedi.

At that moment, she looked more like Luke's twin than ever. Han loved the Skywalker in her as much as anything else. Yet those distant places that she traveled to in her waking dreams was somewhere he could not follow. It scared him that he could not protect her against the dangers of the Force.

"You said you've never been here before," Han reminded her. Leia shook her head but her gaze remained on the distant waterfalls rushing over the cliffs.

"I haven't... my mother..." Leia shook her head. "I saw her here... I saw them both embracing before the waterfalls." She smiled unexpectedly, the image that flickered into her mind had been filled with so much warmth. She grasped Han's hand and smiled up at him.

"It's so beautiful, Han. It's filled with so much life, its practically breathing." She beamed up at him and he couldn't help but chuckle at her delight. She pouted at him momentarily before swooping in to steal a kiss.

Han resisted the sudden urge to lock the ship up and take her to bed. Instead he pulled away with a grin and gestured out the viewport. The landing pad beyond them was just as gorgeous as the rest of the world.

There was a group of people standing on the dock. Diplomatic officials most likely, she wondered if Han had pulled rank to gain clearance. Typically the sight of such officials would frustrate Leia to no end but for some reason, she felt as though these people would be different.

"It's okay," Leia assured him. She flashed him a dimpled smile, "I can handle this, Han."

"Well remember that I'm packing heat," her husband waggled his eyebrows at her and Leia grinned. A sudden calm had descended upon her and she wondered at the twist of fate that had brought this in the midst of all her anxiety to get to Luke.

Luke. The thought of him stopped her cold as she reached out to open the hatch. There had been a momentary flicker within her mind, within the blood of the Force, when she had thought of him. Her mind reached out so unconsciously and for a moment, he was there. As soon as she thought on it more, it was gone.

He had to be all right. Her brother was strong and there was surely a logical explanation as to why he had vanished from the Force. Han gripped her hand suddenly and she looked up at him dreamily. His dark eyes and tousled hair swam in her vision for a moment until he became clear once more.

"Come on now, there's a whole world waiting out there for us, sweetheart." He took her hand and opened the door to step out onto the surface of Naboo.

The warmth of the light seemed to glow all around her as she emerged from the cold ship. Distantly she could hear the vast roar in the wind that echoed the rushing of water over rocks. It sang to her distantly within the Force and she marveled at the life this world had to offer.

"I would say this is probably one of the nicer planets we've been stranded on so far," Han nodded to her as he looked around in appreciation. Leia allowed herself to laugh then, it startled her as much as it did the officials who were standing a few feet away.

Leia turned to them for the first time and studied them with a quick glance. A group of them strung out in a pyramid, like a flock of birds. Many of them wore white feathers in their hair and on their clothes. They looked as if they were preparing to take flight.

A woman in white stood in the front, her feathers covered the entire dress of gold and silver. Her elaborate headdress and ornamental makeup spoke to Leia as someone of deep importance. Leia chided herself on her seeming rudeness and quickly acted to recover.

She knelt in the ancient way of a Jedi, her lightsaber slid quickly in her palm as she crossed her right arm over her breast. Her head bowed but her eyes looked up to meet that of the queen. She was looking down upon Leia with an expression of wonder.

Those dark eyes wavered in Leia's vision for the briefest moment, transforming into another face that was known deep in Leia's heart. These flickers within the Force were almost natural to her now as within a moment of blinking, the face of the queen came back into focus.

"I thank you for allowing us to take a momentary refuge upon your world, Queen Mother. If there is any way I can repay you, please let me know."

The queen smiled at her words, and reached out a hand to Leia. "Leia Organa Solo, you have no need to bow before me. Your blood is as noble as mine or any here before you." The hand that brought Leia to her feet was warm and motherly.

A feeling of great comfort washed over her as the Queen enfolded both of her hands. "You would honor me if you would stay with me while you are here. I feel as though learning a bit about our home would be very beneficial to you both."

"Yes," Leia whispered before she knew it. "Of course, your highness."

"Oh Leia, please at least call me by my name," the dark eyes twinkled and for a moment she looked like a mischievous girl. Yet there was a deep maturity in her voice as she spoke.

"My name is Amidala," those dark eyes shimmered suddenly with unshed tears. "And you, my dear, have finally come home."

-


End file.
